{{Short description|Korean multi-day road cycling race}} {{Infobox cycling race | name = Tour de Korea | current_event = | image = | date = April (until 2012)<br>June (since 2013) | region = [[South Korea]] | english = Tour of Korea | localnames = 투르 드 코리아 {{in lang|ko}} | nickname = | discipline = [[Road bicycle racing|Road]] | competition = [[UCI Asia Tour]] 2.1 | type = [[Race stage|Stage race]] | organiser = [[Korea Cycling Federation]] | director = | first = {{start date|2000}} | number = 20 (as of 2019) | last = | firstwinner = {{flagathlete|[[Mikhail Teteriuk]]|KAZ}} | mostwins = {{flagathlete|[[Park Sung-baek]]|KOR}} ''(2 wins)'' | mostrecent = {{flagathlete|[[Filippo Zaccanti]]|ITA}} }} The '''Tour de Korea''' is an annual professional [[road bicycle racing]] [[race stage|stage race]] held in [[South Korea]] since 2000 as part of the [[UCI Asia Tour]]. It was rated by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.2 category race between 2005 and 2013, then promoted to 2.1 category in 2014. The race is organised 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, but 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&nbsp;million [[South Korean won|Won]].

The tour course is {{convert|1500|km|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 [[individual time trial]]s or [[team time trial]]s. The tour was planned this way reportedly because the promoters wanted to minimise time and effort spent in recording and sorting race results.

==Past winners== {{Cycling past winner start}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2000|name={{sortname|Mikhail|Teteriuk}}|nat=KAZ|team=}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2001|name={{sortname|Jeon|Dae-heung}}|nat=KOR|team=}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2002|name={{sortname|Tang|Xuezhong}}|nat=CHN|team={{UCI team code|RTS|2002}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2003|name={{sortname|Glen|Chadwick}}|nat=NZL|team={{UCI team code|RTS|2003}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2004|name={{sortname|Cory|Lange}}|nat=CAN|team={{UCI team code|MPC|2004}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2005|name={{sortname|David|McCann|David McCann (cyclist)|Maccann, David}}|nat=IRL|team={{UCI team code|RTS|2005}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2006|name={{sortname|Tobias|Erler}}|nat=GER|team={{UCI team code|RTS|2006}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2007|name={{sortname|Park|Sung-baek}}|nat=KOR|team=[[Seoul Cycling Team]]}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2008|name={{sortname|Sergey|Lagutin}}|nat=UZB|team=[[Uzbekistan]] ''(national team)''}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2009|name={{sortname|Roger|Beuchat}}|nat=SUI|team=[[Team Neotel]]}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2010|name={{sortname|Mike|Friedman|dab=cyclist}}|nat=USA|team={{UCI team code|JBC|2010}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2011|name={{sortname|Choi|Ki Ho}}|nat=HKG|team=[[Hong Kong Cycling Association|Hong Kong ''(national team)'']]}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2012|name={{sortname|Park|Sung-baek}}|nat=KOR|team={{UCI team code|KSP|2012}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2013|name={{sortname|Michael|Cuming}}|nat=GBR|team={{UCI team code|RCJ|2013}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2014|name={{sortname|Hugh|Carthy}}|nat=GBR|team={{UCI team code|RCJ|2014}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2015|name={{sortname|Caleb|Ewan}}|nat=AUS|team={{UCI team code|ORS|2015}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2016|name={{sortname|Grega|Bole}}|nat=SLO|team={{UCI team code|VFN|2016}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2017|name={{sortname|Min|Kyeong-ho}}|nat=KOR|team={{UCI team code|Seoul|2017}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2018|name={{sortname|Serghei|Țvetcov}}|nat=ROM|team={{UCI team code|UHC|2018}}}} {{Cycling past winner rider|year=2019<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nippovinifantini.com/newsite/nippo-vini-fantini-faizane-filippo-zaccanti-vince-il-tour-de-korea-orangeblue-premiati-anche-come-miglior-team/?lg=en|title=Nippo Vini Fantani Faizanè: Filippo Zaccanti wins the Tour de Korea. #OrangeBlue also awarded as the best team.|work={{UCI team code|VFN|2019}}|publisher=STC PRO Srl|date=16 June 2019|accessdate=6 June 2022}}</ref>|name={{sortname|Filippo|Zaccanti}}|nat=ITA|team={{UCI team code|NIP|2019}}}} {{Cycling past winner no race|year=2020|reason=the [[COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/roa-calendar2020-updated03072020.pdf|format=[[PDF]]|title=Situation dans le contexte actuel de la pandémie du coronavirus (Covid-19) / Situation in the current context of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic|work=UCI.org|publisher=[[Union Cycliste Internationale]]|date=13 July 2020|accessdate=6 June 2022|page=12|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716221409/https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/roa-calendar2020-updated03072020.pdf|archivedate=16 July 2020}}</ref>}} {{Cycling past winner end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{official website|http://www.tourdekorea.or.kr/}} *{{Cycling archives race|2722}} *[http://www.the-sports.org/tour-de-korea-events-statistics-all-time-s2-c2-b0-g197-t5186-u0.html Statistics] at ''the-sports.org'' *[http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race_history.asp?tourid=2171 Tour de Korea] at ''cqranking.com''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour de Korea}} [[Category:Cycle races in South Korea]] [[Category:UCI Asia Tour races]] [[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2000]] [[Category:2000 establishments in South Korea]] [[Category:Summer in South Korea]]