In stage number 8 of the Tour de Korea, a small group managed to break away from the field. No Discovery Marco Polo riders made this break. Shinichi Fukushima of Team Nippo won the stage, thanks to his team's always agressive tactics. He took the GC lead from Park as well, by only 5 seconds, though (so Park could claim victory, if he would be 1st or 2nd in the last stage).
Some riders that were in the break passed Pol in GC and he was 6th now.

In the last stage, the Discovery Channel Marco Polo riders helped the Seoul team to keep the bunch together; hoping for another stage win by Sergey. Sergey was beaten once again by Park; making it 5 out of 9 stage wins by Park in his own tour + the GC win! Bringing Korea a lot of Asia Tour points and possibly Olympic Qualification!

Pol lost one spot more to a Korea rider that got 3rd in the last sprint, despite riding a great finale himself, Pol finished 6th in the last stage and got 7th in the final GC.

All in all the team rode really well in Korea; with a long list of top 10 results, including three second places and a stage win. A good 7th GC by Pol and also Thijs with the best riders in GC, finishing 22nd in the same time as the 8th spot. Joe attacked in most of the stages, giving the team a represenation in the break, Kenji did a great job, working for the team as well. Hisanori did get a knee problem in the cold and rainy tour and we wish him a quick recovery!!

After a 2nd place by Pol and 4th, 6th, 2nd places in stages by Sergey, finally there was a sweet victory in the Tour de Korea!!

Sergey won the 6th stage, beating Park, who seemed almost unbeatable in the field sprints.
The whole team had a part in the victory, as Joe was in the break of the day, Kenji and Pol worked to bring it back and helped Sergey position. Thijs was in a move with some GC favorites.
Unfortunately the team lost Hisanori yesterday, with a knee injury.

Park did get 6 seconds bonfication and now leads GC by 3 seconds to Hannes Blank, with Discovery Marco Polo's Pol Nabben in third, 36 seconds down. Thijs is also still in contention for GC (some 30 riders within a minute or so), 44 seconds from Park.

Stage 7 sees a climb of 35 km's, so will very probably be deciding for GC.

Our Russian sprinter Sergey Kudentsov became 2nd in the fift stage of the Tour de Korea. Pol Nabben is stil third on GC. Park Sung Baek won the stage, bringing him only 3 seconds from GC leader Hannes Blank. Hopefully this will make the Luxemburg Differdange team of the GC leader more offensive and the race more dynamic in the next stages.

Stage 7 has some serious climbing, so hopefully the DCMPT guys can make their move there!

The Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team is doing well in Korea! Pol is still in 3rd position GC, after the 4th stage. In this 4th stage there were a few leading groups with Sergey and Joe in them, but it finished in a bunch sprint. Sergey managed to get the wheel of Park Sung Baek, the winner of all bunch sprints so far; but they got locked in with 300 meters to go and Sergey got 6th.
Looks like Thijs is finding his legs back after not feeling so good; Kenji is struggeling in the cold and rain (every day rain, so far!); and Hisha is showing great fighting spirit!
Only stage 7 still features real climbing, it will be a very tactical race, otherwise with the Luxemburg team Differdange doing the work for their leader Hannes Blank.

Disocvery Channel Marco Polo started in the Tour de Korea with the following riders:
Sergey Kudentsov
Chi Yin (Kenji) Leung
Hisanori Akyiama
Thijs Zonneveld
Pol Nabben
Joe Cooper

Staff: Michael Carter, Henk Zuidema, Peter Coates

In stage one, Sergey sprinted to a fourth position in a bunch sprint. There was some panic after the stage, as the commissaires drew back their initial statement to give all riders the same time in this short opening stage. Thijs had a flat in last couple of km's... Luckily they came back on their words again and all did get the same time!

In stage 2 Pol jumped after Hannes Blank of the Luxemburg Differdange team in the final, he did not manage to get him, but did finish in front of the riders behind, getting a second place on the stage, bringing him to 3rd in GC. Still around 30 riders in contention for GC, including Thijs and Pol.