November 04, 2011 (Taipei, Taiwan) – The first edition of the Taiwan Cup international road race hosted by Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau will start on Sunday, November 6 as the highlight of 2011 Taiwan Cycling Festival. While integrating the diverse Taiwanese culture and the pleasure of a cycling event, it is the best way to promote the bicycle trend in Taiwan.

World-class professional cyclists packed in Banqiao train station, New Taipei City, with honorable officials and VIPs including Deputy Minister of MOTC Kuo Tsai-Wen, director-general of the Tourism Bureau Janice Lai, TRA director-general Frank Fan, the chairman of Cycling Life-Style Foundation King Liu and other big names.. Taiwan Cup is new but promises to be landmark event, in addition to the professional race, there will be continuous cycling events open to public, riders of every levels can all enjoy the passion of cycling.

Taiwan Cup international road race will start in Hualien on Nov 6; the 200km race is definitely a challenge tour. Professional cycling teams of 12 nations representing United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Malaysia, United States of America, Italy, Ukraine, China, Netherlands, Japan, France, Argentina. The race favorite team Rabobank is reportedly to be the best team which is presently team ranking 4th among UCI Pro Tour, the Dutch riders are veteran at the Tour de France and Grand Tours. Carlos Barredo will be the team leader which he won a stage in La Vuelta a España 2010 and Clásica San Sebastián, San Sebastián in 2009 which the Spain classic course is very close to Taiwan Cup.

The climbing specialist Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), the 28 years Spaniard relentless fighting earned Txurruka the overall combative award in 2007 Tour de France, and the combative rider in the 2011 Vuelta a España. The Taiwan Cup 2010 was cancelled because of Typhoon Megi and replaced with a Wu-Ling hill climbs race won by Txurruka.

The Australian DRAPAC team is one of the elite teams representing Oceania; the Aussies have race in Taiwan several times in the annual Tour de Taiwan. The young Adam Phelan is a time-trial master and won Tour de Taiwan Prologue this year, Adam Semple has took two stages including one was the strenuous mountain stage.

Kenda – 5-Hour Energy representing United States which lead up by Phillip Gaimon specialize in climbing and time-trial, 25 years Isaac Howe saves a fellow rider’s life in Virgina race recalled the sportsmanship is beyond the result.

As to the Asian riders, Max-Success team from Shanghai, China, will be lead up by China national road champion Xu Kang, Jiao Peng-Da the hard-core climber and breakaway specialist which earned him a the Greater China leader title in Tour of China this September. Liu Hao’s aggressive riding has earned him a combative award in Tour of Beijing.

Taiwanese cyclists will make the race hard and even breath-taking, there will be 21 strong local cycling teams, including three of them registered as UCI continental team. Giant-Kenda team is presently ranking 3rd in UCI Asia Tour will have 5 Taiwanese riders on the road. Tourism Bureau expecting that by the top level of cyclists all over the world could advance Taiwan Cup into a classic race. Besides, a great mean to completely transform Taiwan into the most bike-friendly nation in the world, the image of cycling paradise which Taiwan is not only proud of bicycle manufacturing, but also brought to you a green and gorgeous cycling environment.

For more on the Taiwan Cup click HERE.