CYCLING

Daily Diary: Joe Cooper talks Tour de Korea Stage 8

By Aaron S Lee

Thömel wins stage, Ewan wins race, Bevin takes second on both counts and Joe Cooper tells his side of the story for NZ Bike.



SEOUL—It all came down to the last day at Tour de Korea on Sunday. Trailing race leader Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) by eight seconds, Kiwi Patrick Bevin (Avanti Racing Team) had to win the final stage (8) outright to claim general classification.

While the 24-year-old managed to finish second, three spots ahead of the 20-year-old Australian on the day, Ewan took intermediate sprint bonuses to finish with a four-second lead and win his first professional stage race since joining the Australian WorldTour team.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, and probably the most disappointing second place on in a stage I’ve gotten all race,” Bevin told NZ Bike at the finish. “When you come up against a team with the might of Orica-GreenEdge and take them so close it’s good but obviously disappointing to come in second because no one remembers second place.”

The reigning Oceania road race champion entered the day eight seconds down on the 20-year-old Ewan, who had already claimed four stages during the week, including Saturday’s stage 6 in Daejeon.

“I’d like another shot tomorrow – maybe a nice short road bike time trial,” said Bevin, who recorded five second-place finishes along with a win on stage 5 and a third on stage 6.

“We’d have another crack any day, but that’s bike racing and they deserve to win.

“But it would have been nice to have taken the jersey off them in the last metre on the last day, but I’m sure we’ll come back and race again.”

NZ Bike caught up with reigning New Zealand road race champion and the 2014 Australian National Road Series winner Joe Cooper to talk about the stage and the week that saw the Avanti Racing Team claim the overall teams classification.

Joe Cooper’s diary entry: Stage 8 – Seoul - Seoul, 65km
First of all, it’s hard to find a good coffee in Korea. Thankfully, my boys at Rumble Coffee in Kensington (VIC) hooked me up with a travel pack for me to brew my own. Once I had my daily caffeine fix (four a day keeps the doctor away), it was on to business.

We had a clear goal today. We had to make up eight seconds to win the bike race, which is the reason we flew all this way. So, we weren’t gonna die wondering.

The break went away and it was our responsibility if we wanted to have a crack to bring it back for the second intermediate sprint, which Caleb Ewan won and Paddy came in third which was still okay for us. Then it was just a progression for us.

If Paddy would have won the stage, we would have won the stage overall. From the pictures it looked like only a bee’s dick from winning and losing.

We are disappointed that it came down to four seconds after eight stages. Maybe if that crash hadn’t happened on the first day, maybe we would have gotten some time there – who knows?

We had a brief hiccup on the intermediate sprint with a moment’s hesitation, but it’s all hindsight really. The sprint train of Anthony Giacoppo (AUS), Neil van der Ploeg (AUS) and Paddy have only raced a few times together, while GreenEdge has been perfecting their train all year.

If we were offered a stage win, six podiums and second on GC and a first on teams classification, we would have all signed on the dotted line straight away.

So with this race behind us, I am going on holiday with my girlfriend, Miranda, to soak up some fun and sun on the Gold Coast in Queensland, before embarking on a solo training camp.

Unfortunately with the Tour of Murray and Tour of Gippsland now cancelled, it’s a long wait for the next round of the Australian National Road Series in August.

In the meantime, I have a New Zealand national championship-inspired Avanti Corsa SL being delivered soon, and NZ Bike will be the first to see it.

Until then, stay tuned…
-Joe Cooper

Stage 8 results (top 5)
1.    Tino Thömel (RTS-Santic Racing Team)                  1:22:10
2.    Patrick Bevin (Avanti Racing Team)                           -
3.    Wouter Wippert (Drapac Pro Cycling)                        -
4.    Nicolas Marini (Nippo-Vini Fantini)                             -
5.    Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge)                                -

General classification (top 5)
1.    Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge)                                             29:53:28
2.    Patrick Bevin (Avanti Racing Team)                                       +00.04
3.    Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge)                                            +00.44
4.    Ha Jeon Jung (Seoul Cycling Team)                                       +00.51
5.    Richard Handley (JLT Condor)                                                -

Aaron S. Lee is a cycling and triathlon columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to NZ Bike Magazine.  Image credit: Daebong Kim