To end its 2008 cycling season, Team Jelly Belly will be traveling to China next week to compete in the Tour of Hainan. The race will be nine days long – including a prologue on the first day. The Tour takes place on the Island of Hainan, located on China’s southern-most tip in the South Sea.
The roster for this last race includes five riders: Matty Rice, Nick Reistad, Kiel Riejnen, Bernard Van Ulden and Brad Huff. For many reasons, the team has agreed that in order to stay strong throughout the nine day race, conserving energy in the first few days is a must.
Van Ulden said he’s “planning on not going gang busters the first two days.” And Huff added he won’t be “going out all guns’a’blazing.”
However, there is a fine line between safeguarding what they have left and loosing critical time, especially this late in the season.
“We just need to make sure we don’t miss any key splits,” Van Ulden explained. “Then we need to watch and figure out who the other serious players are.”
However this race turns out, the team should be happy about its results for the 2008 season.
Molly Saunders
PR Jelly Belly Cycling Team
