June 14, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 8

June 13, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 7

June 13, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 6

June 11, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 5

June 10, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 4

Happy to be in yellow!

June 9, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 3

Nippo Fantini riders getting a team brief before the start of the stage

Only in Korea…

Caleb Ewan gets his second consecutive stage win and moves into the race leader’s yellow jersey

Happy to be in yellow!

June 8, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 2

Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) is all smiles after bouncing back from his crash on Stage 1 and taking the win at Stage 2 of the race.

Wouter Wippert (Drapac Pro Cycling) finished in 3rd place at Stage 2 and maintained his position as the overall race leader.

K-Pop meets pro cycling at the Tour de Korea???

June 7, 2015June 17, 2015 by ziehaqqin

Tour de Korea 2015 : Postcards from Stage 1

Tour de Korea 2015/ Stage 1/ Busan to Gumi/ 189.1 km

The Drapac Pro Cycling boys at the sign in area before the start of Stage 1, 189.1km long from Busan to Gumi.

The Drapac riders look relaxed at the team presentation.

Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) looks to win some sprint stages at this year’s Tour de Korea. His team is the only UCI Pro Tour team at the race.

Novo Nordisk riders chill out before the start of the stage.

Dutch sprinter Wouter Wippert (right) having a smile before the start of the stage. He will go on to win the opening stage and slip into the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Seasoned Australian sprinter Graeme Brown (Drapac Pro Cycling) gets a massage from his team soigneur.

Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) is a popular young rider and obliges a local Korean fan with his autograph.

Korean fans in full-force for Caleb Ewan and Orica-GreenEDGE

Wouter Wippert (Drapac Pro Cycling) makes his winning move!

“But first, let me take a selfie…”

Caleb Ewan was unfortunately caught in a crash at 400meters to go to the finish line and was not a factor in the final sprint.

Wouter Wippert has a total of 3 stage wins in the 2015 season so far: Stage 6 at the Tour Down Under in Australia, Stage 1 at the Tour de Taiwan and most recently, Stage 1 at the Tour of Korea.

Stretching exercises before the start of the stage?

Wippert hugs his team mate in elation after his stage win.

Crashes are part and parcel of bike racing

Japanese rider Genki Yamamoto (Nippo-Fantini) leads the KOM classification after Stage 1.

Wouter Wippert leads the race in the yellow jersey after his opening stage victory at the 2015 Tour de Korea.

May 7, 2015May 7, 2015 by Dean Koh

Pro Bike : Merhawi Kudus’s Cervelo S5

MTN-Qhubeka’s promising Eritrean climbing sensation Merhawi Kudus has seen great results despite his youth: 2nd overall in the 2014 Le Tour de Langkawi race, part of the winning team at the 2015 African Continental Championships in the Team Time Trial and 2nd overall in the 2013 Vuelta Ciclista a León. Unfortunately, Kudus fell sick towards the end of this year’s LTdL and did not finish the race but his teammate, Youcef Reguigui managed to win the decisive Fraser’s Hill stage and eventually took the overall race champion title.

The African Pro-Continental team’s bike sponsor, Cervelo, is no longer in the UCI ProTour (after Garmin-Cervelo and Cannondale merged at the end of the 2014 season) but increased its presence in women’s professional cycling through its support of teams such as the Bigla Pro Cycling Team and Velocio-SRAM. Most recently, Team Great Britain has officially announced a 5-year partnership with Cervelo bikes, which will see Team GB athletes riding Cervelo track and road bikes for the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

We take a closer look at Kudus’s Cervelo S5 team bike from this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi race:

While Spanish company Rotor is known for their oval chainrings, some riders such as Kudu prefer standard round (NoQ) chainrings.

KMC, MTN-Qhubeka’s chain sponsor adds a little gold bling to the understated black graphics of the bike.

Subtle graphics on MTN-Qhubeka’s Cervelo team bikes are a refreshing sight in the pro peloton…

Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 components are used by the MTN-Qhubeka team, though they are not officially sponsored by the Japanese component manufacturer. Many teams fork out their own money to buy equipment, especially smaller teams like MTN-Qhubeka.

Shimano’s Dura-Ace Di2 components (sans the cranksets which are by Rotor) are used by the MTN-Qhubeka team, though they are not officially sponsored by the Japanese component manufacturer.