SUBWAY® Pro Cycling aim for similar success in Korea

SUBWAY® Pro Cycling aim for similar success in Korea

18 April 2011

The SUBWAY® Pro Cycling leaves tomorrow to race in the UCI 2.2 Tour de Korea where it hopes to have similar success to last year.

Oceania Champion Paul Odlin won the tour’s sprint jersey and the team’s General Manager Hayden Godfrey is confident the team will again perform well continuing its fine run of form as it tackles its second international event of the year.

“We have racked up a series of good results in New Zealand and had a solid hit out in Singapore last month,” Godfrey said. “We are looking forward to stepping it up a notch against some strong international teams.”

SUBWAY® Pro Cycling is taking a team of six to the eight stage 1100 kilometre tour. Godfrey said the team had been selected on form with all the riders going to Korea riding well and deserving of their places.

“Paul (Odlin) and Sam (Horgan) had a very strong Oceania Championships last month with wins in the road race for Paul and time trial for Sam. Nick (Lovegrove) won Graperide and Sam won Le Race, with the team dominant in both races.”

Odlin demonstrated his form with a win in Around Brunner on Saturday, a race which saw Horgan come third in their final hit out before leaving for Korea.

“The guys who raced in Brunner were strong and going well. We are also really happy to have national track representatives Wes (Gough) and Pete (Latham) joining us for Korea to further strengthen the line-up,” Godfrey said.

“The team is going better at this time of year than it was last year, and both Pete and Wes performed very well for New Zealand on the track at the recent world champs in Melbourne. But it’s a little bit of an unknown going from four minutes to four hours so it will be a bit of a wait and see to see how they adjust.”

Gough won two bronze medals in Melbourne – in the team pursuit and individual pursuit – and set the second fastest time by a New Zealander winning the bronze medal. Gough and Latham are both aiming for Olympic selection for London. The team is named in late June.

Godfrey said that although a clear goal was a stage win he felt the team had enough strength to adjust and adapt to whatever happens on the road.

“Last year’s race had some long tough climbs. We think this year’s route is a little flatter which will suit us better, but we’ll know more once we get there.”

The UCI 2.2. tour includes a mix of pro Continental and Continental teams from Asia and the United States. The event starts on Sunday 22 April and finishes on the following Sunday.

It passes through 10 cities in Korea including Incheon, Buyeo, Gwangju, Yeosu, and Yeoju.

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