After an epic day of wind, rain and snow when Mike Freidman had taken the yellow jersey, team JellyBelly – P/B Kenda were happy to enjoy a rest day.
We took the opportunity to go for a 2 hour roll and scout out the opening climb of the next stage. This turned out to be invaluable as we were surprised with a 7.5km climb that still had a solid coating of snow from the previous day.
When the flag dropped, we were able to ‘float with the moves’ – basically follow any big attacks but not expend too much of our own energy. As we hit the climb, the Seoul Cycling team took over the work at the front while we simply rode at a pace that was comfortable for Mike and prepared for a hair-raising descent to get back with the leaders. After the field coming together and numerous attacks, a break of 2 riders, followed by another 5 escaped with the most threatening to Mike’s position being 11 minutes down. This left Kiel and the two Will’s with the task of riding tempo on the front for the next 120km as the route gradually headed upwards to over 1000m. After another attack from Seoul Cycling, we once again took advantage of Mike’s descending skills to regain contact just as the bunch reached the coastline. From there it was 25km of brutal headwind and the butch just failed to catch 2 remaining breakaway riders. From the team point of view, we survived an epic 225km day with 2500m of climbing with only 4 riders to protect the yellow jersey.
Going into stage 9 – a 150km stage with the biggest mountain of the tour in the first 30km, Team Jellybell p/b Kenda knew that it would be tough to hold the yellow jersey. Within minutes of the flag dropping, and into a strong headwind, an acceptable break away was established. However, once again it was Seoul Cycling driving the pace as the road climbed and Mike was forced to ride at his own pace, with the help of Will R and Kiel. After setting tempo to the base of the climb and being caught out by the acceleration, Will D was not quite able to regain contact and was left with 120km in ‘gruppetto’ to make it to the finish. This left Kiel and Will R with the job of staying with Mike on a stage that contained another 5 climbs and a total of 2000m ascent, and trying to hold his wheel on the descents. Each time Mike looked to be in trouble, the boys stayed calm and were able to not only negate any dangerous attacks but also return to the group of favourites every time they were gapped. Once again, the break was successful, but importantly for us, Mike reached the finish with the rest of the top 10 riders and only had to survive one more day.
VID 00018-20100501-2029 from MissingSaddle on Vimeo.
Stage 10 looked at first glance to be procession for the yellow jersey – a 49km street race in downtown Seoul. However as we studied the race handbook and began to hear reports from the locals, we knew this would not be the case. After 35km of flat racing along the main river that flows through Seoul, the course turned straight up hill and into a park that contains Seoul’s highest peak. This entire section of road also contained a row of bollards down the center line, deep drainage ditches on either side and many speed bumps, conveniently made of cobble stones. as the road steepen ed to 12%, once again the team came together, remaining with Mike as the climbers attacked out of sight. On the dangerous descent, Mike’s bike skills were on display as he and Will D emerged with only a 20sec gap to the leaders. With the top placing’s only separated by seconds and the tour title up for grabs, Will gave Mike one last ‘death pull’ to close the gap to a point where he was able to jump across. Another break-neck chase from Keil and Will R resulted in them reaching the front group in the final 2 kilometers and at that point we knew not only the tour was won but also the classification for best team.
So Team Jellybelly p/b Kenda has completed 2 UCI tours in Asia this month and won them both. The hard racing and long stages have given us great form and all of the guys have immediately begun to focus on the upcoming Tour of California. Can’t wait!
Photos From Tour Of Korea – Photographer: Taeho Roy
