Thai battles strong winds to win tour’s sixth stage
Thailand’s Phanuphan Koolrungruengket had a spectacular day yesterday to emerge victorious in the 98km sixth stage of the Binh Duong Television International Cycling Tour from Nha Trang to Phan Rang.
Cyclists from 11 local and three foreign teams were confronted with strong winds over more than 30km of the race, but they pedalled fiercely. Phanuphan reached a top speed of almost 43 kph to take the stage in 2:16.55.
Le Duc Thang from Binh Duong Water Supply and Tran Van Quyen from Military Zone 7 finished the stage second and third respectively.
Hall Brad of the Netherlands Ysselstreek team continued his reign as bearer of the yellow jersey with the best overall time of 15 hours, 33 minutes and 46 seconds, although he came in fourth in the stage.
The Domesco Dong Thap team leads the team competition after six stages with a combined time of 46:44.25, followed by Ysselstreek and the Mongolian team.
Today, cyclists will pedal for the seventh stage from Phan Rang to Phan Thiet.
The event, which offers total prize money of VND178 million (US$10,100), was recognised by the Viet Nam Cycling Federation as a national tour.
Only the strongest national teams of five cyclists each were invited to participate.
The tournament will finish tomorrow when racers will cycle 185km from Phan Thiet back to Binh Duong.
VietNamNet/VNS
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