Park prevails in Taipei City

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Park Sung Baek (Korea) sprinted to victory in the Taipei City Criterium on stage one of the Tour de Taiwan, putting the disappointment of last year's Asian Games behind him.

In Guangzhou last year, the Korean was denied the gold medal in the men's road race when he was judged to have impeded Hong Kong's Wong Kam Po in the sprint to the finish line.

But this time round there was no controversy as Sung Baek was clearly ahead of nearest challenger Bernardo Riccio (D'Angelo & Antennuci) while Dean Downing (Rapha Condor) crossed the finish line for third place.

"I'm just happy to win, it is always good to take a stage," said the 26-year-old Korean, who began his professional career with the Taiwan-based Giant-Asia Racing team back in 2005.

"The team did a great job for me and Jang (Chan Jae) did a perfect lead-out for me. I was a little concerned about crashes at the start of this race and that was the reason why I was a little cautious.

"For the next several days the strategy will still be the same and that is to look for the opportunity to take another stage win although I really can't wait for the climbs to start."

With the peloton having to complete 60 laps over a 1km circuit, the race saw several teams setting the early pace although it was to be Wai Man Chau (Hong Kong) who took the first sprint.

The Korean National Team was quick to get to the front of the pack and Chan Jae was consistent throughout the remaining two sprints to pick up a total of 11 points to give the rhythm for Sung Baek for the finish.

"I'm just happy to work for the team and to see Sung Baek win the stage," said Chan Jae, who took the sprinter's green jersey.

For Australia's Adam Phelan (Drapac), he was just glad to remain atop the general classification and be in the leader's yellow jersey for stage two.

"I'm happy to be in the yellow still. I can't quite sprint like some of the guys here so it was important that I keep out of trouble. We will see what happens in the next few days," said Phelan.

The best-ranked Asian rider's blue jersey went to Junya Sano (D'Angelo & Antenucci-Nippo) who holds eighth overall on general classification, five seconds behind race leader Phelan.

"It feels good to be in the blue jersey but there are a lot of good riders here and they all would want to win it. So I will just have to stick to the team strategy and hope for the best in the next few stages," added Junya.

"It will be tough for me in the climbs as I'm not a climber, so I hope that I will get to wear this jersey as long as I can."

Stage two will see the peloton covering a distance of 118km from New Taipei City Hall to Linshanbi.