South African outsprints Pinoy bets

MANILA, Philippines - South African Pieter Seyffert beat three Filipinos and a Japanese in a mad dash to the finish as Irish David McCann coasted with his chief pursuers in the main pack to easily keep the overall individual lead after the 60.5km circuit stage of the Le Tour de Filipinas on Roxas Boulevard in Manila yesterday.

It was a lull before the storm for the top contenders with the 23-year-old South African taking the opportunity to seize the moment in the four-day tour.

Seyffert, along with Japanese Junpei Murakami of Team Shimano, made a big surge from the starting line and sustained his bristling pace despite the challenge put up by Filipino bets Arnel Quimirit, Oscar Rendole and Alfredo Asuncion in the closing laps.

The DCM Chrome team No. 2 man outpedalled and outmaneuvered Murakami, Quirimit, Rendole and Asuncion in the last 200 meters to grab the stage win worth P84,000.

Seyffert, who beat Murakami by a bike length, later acknowledged the help of his teammates for holding down the ace riders in the peloton, and Quirimit, Rendole and Asuncion for boosting his ride in the last eight kilometers of the race toughened by Manila Bay’s howling winds.

“It was our plan for me to attack right away and for my teammates to stay with the pack, keeping them in check,” said Seyffert, applauded by the appreciative local crowd which lined the starting/finish area near the Rajah Sulaiman Park in Malate.

“But I couldn’t have stayed long in the pace if not for the Filipinos who later came along. They’re strong and good riders. Their challenge boosted me to pull through,” the tall South African rider added.

Seyffert was particularly impressed with the diminutive Rendole, a Guimba, Nueva Ecija native who, despite his size, showed tremendous power in his legs.

Rendole made the first move in the homestretch but was checked by Seyffert and Murakami who went on to finish first and second.

“I know they’re strong in the stretch so I went for the lead early, but they easily caught up,”said Rendole, who was even beaten by Quirimit for third place.

The five riders had identical clockings of 1:21:12 in the stage that hardly shook the event’s overall individual race.

McCann and the other leading riders practically spent the day watching one another’s move, obviously preserving their energy for the tough 146.60-km third stage from the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City to the Boardwalk inside Subic.

Seyffert said they went all-out to get the podium finish yesterday since they had given up hopes in the battle for the individual overall championship.

McCann of Giant Asia Riding Team easily kept his hold of the yellow jersey as he maintained a lead of two minutes and 34 seconds over Lloyd Reynante of the 7-Eleven team, and 2:36 over Baler Ravina of Team Pilipinas-Batang Tagaytay.

They figured in a mass finish with practically everybody behind the top five.

Thus, Baler Ravina (American Vinyl, 4:55:15 behind) stayed at fourth followed by Joel Calderon (Smart, 4:56:12), Cris Joven (American Vinyl, 4:56:12), Rendole (Smart, 4:56:23), South African Jaques Janse Van Rensburg (DCM, 4:57:26), Ferdinand Pablo (American Vinyl, 4:58:02) and German Sascha Damrow (CCN Sportwear-Colossi, 4:58:04).

American Vinyl stayed on top of the general team classification with a 1:58 advantage over Smart, 8:16 lead over 7-Eleven, 14:52 edge over Team Pilipinas-Batang Tagaytay and 19:49 space over Extra Joss.

Valenzuela also kept the white jersey for the leadership in the Young Rider’s award with his 2:11 lead over Van Rensburg. The Young Rider’s award is given to the best-placed rider who is 22 years old or younger – but not below 18.

NOTES: Eight riders either didn’t finish or failed to meet the finishing time limits in the tough Tagaytay-Tagaytay stage Saturday. Out before the second stage were Filipinos Dennis Suz, Gregor Vincent Mangete, Louie Embalsado and foreign riders Rasoul Barati of Giant Asia, Lemuel Lee Yun Jie of OCBC-Singapore and Bolo Erdene and B. Myagmarsuren of Snow Leopard.