Irishman maintains lead in Tour de Taiwan

McCann finished comfortably in the lead peleton to avoid losing any time to his closest pursuer, American Philip Gaimon of the Kenda team.

The Irishman has an eight-second lead over Gaimon heading into the Tour's final stage, consisting of 60 1-kilometer loops around Taipei City Hall.

Though Tomasz won the sprint to win the stage, he remained far behind Japan's Takashi Miyazawa of the Japan National Team in the hunt for the green jersey.

Miyazawa, fourth overall 14 seconds behind McCann, not only likely has the green jersey locked up, he is currently the leading Asian rider in the race, 12 seconds ahead of Hong Kong's Cheung King Wai, who was in fifth place after the stage.

The leading Taiwanese rider, Feng Chun-kai, finished the day seventh overall, 30 seconds behind McCann, and third among Asian riders.

His Taiwanese ACTION Cycling Team was also ranked third among the 18 teams entered, trailing only the Hong Kong Team and Shimano Racing.

The six stage was considered one of the toughest in this year's race, alternating between the Taipei County coastline from Danshuei to Wanli and climbs in the northern part of the county inland from Sanjhih and Wanli.

Greeted by cheerleaders from 21 schools, the cyclists from 17 countries started the 131.75 kilometer stage at Taipei County Plaza in Banciao, speeding off at the sound of the starting gun fired by Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei.

The stage covered 10 cities and townships along the northern coast before finishing at the Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology.

This year's seven-stage race covers a total of 880 kilometers, 83 more kilometers than last year.

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