Jones races to second stage win, Bole finishes TdK in yellow

SEOUL—A day after capturing a share of the stage 7 win in Seoul after a dead heat between team rider Brad Evans (NZL) and One Pro Cycling’s Kristian House (GBR), Drapac Pro Cycling secured its third victory of the 2016 Tour de Korea with Australian Brenton Jones’ second win in five days.

The 65km stage featured four 5.1km laps to close the race in the final 20km.

After riding in a six-man break, including Nelson Martin (7 Eleven-Sava RBP), Kang Eun Joo (KSPO), Sunjae Jang (LX-IIBS Cycling Team), Ching Yin Mow (Team Hong Kong China) and Nik Mohd Azwan Zulkifle (Malaysia National Team), from the start. Australian rower-turned-cyclist Sean Lake (Avanti-IsoWhey Sport) attacked the five riders midway through the third lap (56km) to take a 23-second advantage before being swallowed by the peleton in the final kilometre.

Jones outsprinted fellow stage winners Chris Opie (One Pro Cycling) and Jon Aberasturi (Team UKYO), who like Jones spent time in the yellow leaders jersey this week before Slovenian Greg Bole (Nippo-Vini Fantini) ultimately claimed it.

“I am really happy to finish the week off with a win,” Jones told Eurosport. “The boys have been sensational, not just this week, but all year, and I’m happy to finally reward the boys that are here – and that aren’t here – and prove that I can get the job done.”

After eight days of racing, seven different winners and four lead changes, the 2016 Tour de Korea wrapped with Slovenian Grega Bole (Nippo-Vini Fantini) holding onto general classification (GC), 13 seconds over Spain’s Javier Megias (Team Novo Nordisk) in second and Korea’s Hyu Suk Gong (KSPO) in third.

“I didn’t expect this win,” said the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné stage winner, who is fresh off racing the Giro d’Italia last month. “After the Giro it was hard for me, because I didn’t touch the bike before the Giro after I had a bad crash at Amstel Gold Race.

“The first few stages here I felt really tired and couldn’t find my legs,” continued Bole. “In the end, we won this race with only four riders, after two went home after stage 2, so I am very happy.”

This year’s race was wide open, with several bright stars emerging for the ranks, such as Poland’s Karol Domagalski (POL), who claimed two stages in dominant fashion, while Jones also spent a day in yellow after winning stage 4 before ultimately settling on the blue jersey for winning the points classification.

Best young rider Yevgeniy Gidich (Vino 4-ever SKO) also impressed, spending the final five days in the white jersey. The 20-year-old Kazakhstani rider, who is fresh off a Tour of Iran stage win last month, finished eighth overall.

A pair of freshly signed pair of 24-year-olds for Drapac Pro Cycling also showed promise this week, as New Zealand’s Brad Evans claimed a share of stage 7 in a dead heat with British veteran and 2009 national road race champion Kristian House (One Pro Cycling), one of two wins for Drapac and four for One Pro Cycling during the race.

Evans’ teammate Gavin Mannion (USA) finished third on stage 6 after riding more than 100km in a breakaway from the start. The young American, who finished third on GC at the Silver City’s Tour of the Gila and fourth at the USA Pro Challenge last year, took seventh overall in the final standings in Korea.