David on Formosa

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) completes a lap of the circuit around Taipei City Hall.

After yesterday's race in Nangang, the eighth and final stage of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan was held over 60 laps of a circuit around Taipei City Hall today. Shawn Milne, in second overall, rode an attacking race in an attempt to gain time bonuses and capture the yellow jersey. However, John Murphy with support from his team mates was able to win the intermediate sprint and hold on to the overall lead. The stage was won by Marek Wesoly of Poland riding for the Merida Europe Team.

Marek Wesoly accepts his prize for winning stage eight.  

Lai Kuan-hua (賴冠華) of the Giant Asia Racing Team retained the white jersey for leading Taiwanese rider. Giant Asia Racing Team also won the teams category.

Takashi Miyazawa of Japan riding for Team Meitan-Hompo-GDR won the blue jersey for leading Asian rider.

John Murphy of the USA riding for the Health Net presented by Maxxis team won the green jersey for best sprinter and yellow jersey as overall winner of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan.

A special mention must go to Rico Shen (pictured above) who did a great job covering the race at Wikinews (中文). However, the general lack of media coverage of the race was disappointing. Detailed results are available from www.cyclingnews.com. I have many photos of the final three stages at flickr.