HONG KONG'S Wong Kam-po produced a late burst in the mountains to finish third in yesterday's eighth stage and claim second place overall at the conclusion cycling's gruelling Tour of Taiwan.
Wong slashed almost two minutes off his accumulated time to finish four places up the leadership board from sixth overnight.
He had a real battle on his hands going into yesterday's final leg after he had a disappointing day of racing on Friday.
Even though he finished seventh in the 180-kilometre road race from Taitong to Huilien on Friday and was more than three minutes behind overnight leader Tsen Seong Hoong of Malaysia, the Hong Kong team were still confident Wong would come good in yesterday's 135-kilometre race from Han City to Yang Ming.
Wong is a noted climber and he relished conditions in the mountainous stage, which rises 800 metres above sea level, to finish behind American Cameron Hoffman and Iranian Mizbani Iranagh Ghader.
It was Wong's second podium finish in the 1,075-kilometre Tour after winning the third stage last Tuesday.
'We always knew Wong would do well in the last stage because he loves mountain climbs. What he did is quite remarkable because he managed to make up a lot of ground on the leaders,' said Hong Kong team manager Charles Chow.