Pinoy riders nalason, tumapos lang ng 6th place overall sa Tour of Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines - Nabiktima ng food poiso­ning ang buong koponan ng Roadbike Phils-711 kung saan tatlong riders lang ang nakalahok sa ninth at final leg ng Binh Duong TV Cup Tour of Viet­nam para tumapos bilang sixth overall.

“It must have been the vege­tables that we ate for dinner,” wika ni team director Ric Rodriguez sa kanilang pagkalason.

Tanging sina Lloyd Lucien Reynante, Merculio Ramos Jr. at Mark Rhome Antonio ang na­katakbo sa Binh Duong TV network sa southeastern Vietnam province ng Binh Duong.

Ayon kay Rodriguez, maa­aring ang ‘kangkong’ na kani­lang kinain ang naging dahilan ng kanilang food poisoning.

“Everyone of us in the dele­gation, including myself, was dizzy and had stomach pains after eating,” wika nito. “And we had to work late into early morning to see everybody was all right.”

Hindi na nakabangon pa si­na 2009 Tour of Luzon champ Mark Guevarra at Nikko Cortezdahil dito.

“Lloyd, Elmo (Ramos) and Rhome tried to do their best in the final stage, but they had nothing in the tank left because of what happened to us last Wednesday,” sabi ni Rodriguez. “Wala talagang laman.”

Ang pagkakabutas ng kanilang mga gulong sa Stage 8, isang 150-km. drive mula Na Thrang hanggang Phan Rang, ang isa pang dahilan ng kabi­guan ng RP-711 riders na makaakyat mula sa No. 6 overall.

“Lloyd and Mark were part of that lead group spearheaded by Elmo but both suffered flat tires with 15 kilometers to go from the finish line and were unable to catch up with the pack,” ani Rodriguez. “Kung kasama sa lead pack yong dalawa, baka naka-third overall pa tayo.”

Naging kuntento naman si Rodriguez sa kampanya ng tro­pa.