Park wins 2012 Tour de Korea

Park Sung-back on Sunday became the first Korean to win the Tour de Korea twice, completing the 1,056.1 kilometers, eight days just 3 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Park of KSPO had a sluggish start. He finished fourth in the 197.7 km second stage, clocking 4 hours 42 minutes and 25 seconds and was in 12th place until the fifth day of the race.

The 2007 Tour de Korea winner, however, returned to his former glory in style with a decisive victory on the sixth day.

The 27-year-old laid the foundation for his victory in the final stage, ending the eight-day race by clocking 21:03:33, giving him a three second lead over runner-up Alexander Candelario of the United States.

This year's race was marred by a number of accidents and delays. The fourth stage was canceled and a Ukrainian cyclist suffered an injury in a crash in the fifth stage.

Yuriy Agarkov suffered a spinal injury on Thursday after colliding with a motorcycle in strong winds, but his condition is not critical, and he is now recovering in a Seoul hospital, organizers said.

The local organizers had to make the tough decision of cancelling the fourth stage of the race from Yeosu to Gochang in South Jeolla Province due to heavy rains.

Despite the hiccups, the sixth Tour de Korea enjoyed overall success, attracting more than 130 professional riders in 22 teams from across the world, along with some 200 amateur riders.