Tour de Korea
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | April |
| Region | South Korea |
| English name | Tour of Korea |
| Local name(s) | 투르 드 코리아 (Korean) |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI Asia Tour 2.1 |
| Type | Stage race |
| Organiser | Korea Cycling Federation |
| History | |
| First edition | 2001 |
| Editions | 16 (as of 2016) |
| First winner |
 Chun Dae-Hong (KOR) |
| Most wins |
Park Sung-Baek (KOR) (2 wins) |
| Most recent |
 Grega Bole (SLO) |
The Tour de Korea is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in South Korea since 2001 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It as rated by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.2 category race, then promoted to 2.1 category in 2014. The race is organized by the Korea Cycling Federation.
History
The tour gained international attention when Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, participated in 2007. Armstrong, having retired from cycling at that time, did not compete. For the sake of publicity, he rode one lap around the course of the first stage on his mountain bicycle.
Tour de Korea is the only international cycling competition in South Korea. The predecessor to Tour de Korea was stopped in 1997 due to financial strains. Tour de Korea is divided into two divisions: Elite for invitees and competitive cyclists, and a "Special race" for cycling club teams. The prize money for the 2011 tour totaled 200 million Won.
The tour course is 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) long, making it the longest cycling competition in Asia.
The tour comprises exclusively point-to-point road race stages. Unlike the major tours in Europe, such as the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, there are no time trials or team time trials. The tour was planned this way reportedly because the promoters wanted to minimize time and effort spent in recording and sorting race results.
Past winners
General classification
| Rider | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | |
Chun Dae-Hong (KOR) | |
| 2002 |  |
Tang Xuezhong (CHN) | Giant Asia Racing Team |
| 2003 |  |
Chadwick, GlenGlen Chadwick (NZL) | Giant Asia Racing Team |
| 2004 |  |
Lange, CoryCory Lange (CAN) | Marco Polo |
| 2005 |  |
Maccann, DavidDavid McCann (IRL) | Giant Asia Racing Team |
| 2006 |  |
Erler, TobiasTobias Erler (GER) | Giant Asia Racing Team |
| 2007 | |
Park Sung-Baek (KOR) | Seoul Cycling Team |
| 2008 |  |
Lagutin, SergeySergey Lagutin (UZB) | Uzbekistan (national team) |
| 2009 |  |
Beuchat, RogerRoger Beuchat (SUI) | Team Neotel |
| 2010 |  |
Friedman, MikeMike Friedman (USA) | Jelly Belly Cycling Team |
| 2011 |  |
Ki Ho, ChoiChoi Ki Ho (HKG) | Hong Kong (national team) |
| 2012 | |
Sung-Baek, ParkPark Sung-Baek (KOR) | KSPO Cycling Team |
| 2013 |  |
Cuming, MichaelMichael Cuming (GBR) | Rapha Condor–JLT |
| 2014 | |
Carthy, HughHugh Carthy (GBR) | Rapha Condor–JLT |
| 2015 |  |
Ewan, CalebCaleb Ewan (AUS) | Orica-GreenEDGE |
| 2016 | |
Bole, GregaGrega Bole (SLO) | Nippo–Vini Fantini |
External links
- Official website
- Tour de Korea Palmares at Cycling Archives
- Statistics at the-sports.org
- Tour de Korea at cqranking.com
- Tour de Korea on Facebook
- Tour de Korea on Twitter