Iranian primes up for Baguio killer lap

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan ,Philippines  – Iranian Rahim Emami wisely rode with the peloton and finished behind eventual stage winners Mirsamad Pourseyedi Golakhour and Filipino Cris Joven in Stage 3 of Le Tour de Filipinas yesterday, keeping the yellow jersey heading to the killer Baguio stage today.

Emami, 29, finished at the tailend of the big 48-man group in three hours, 38 minutes and nine seconds as he held on to the solo lead in the four-stage event after the relatively flat 151.20km Stage 3 that started in Iba, Zambales and ended in this Pangasinan capital located at the heart of the province.

Emami, who finished second in the King of the Mountain race of the Tour de Langkawi recently, now has a total time of 9:05:51 – a mere two-second lead over top local bet Ericson Obosa, who overtook another Iranian Hamid Shiri Sisan for second after finishing in front of the huge pack.

Obosa, a constant stage winner in past local tours but never a champion in this annual summer cycling spectacle, had a total aggregate clocking of 9:05:53 after gaining a four-second time incentive for finishing third and ahead of the group that included the tour’s big guns.

Obosa, a native of Manaoag of this province, goes all out today as he tackles the 112.50km stage featuring the killer ascents on Kennon Road, categorized by the UCI or the International Cycling Federation as horse – the highest of all ascents.

Twenty six others, including Emami’s Azad University teammate Shiri Sisan, Stage 2 winner Kazuo Inoue of Japan and Obosa’s 7-Eleven teammate Lloyd Lucien Reynante, remain within striking distance with just 35 seconds separating them from the pacesetters, making today’s final leg doubly exciting.

Shiri Sisan is in third with 9:05:54 followed by Bridgstone/Anchor’s Inoue with a 9:05.59, Reynante (9:06:03), while Shopinas’ Quinones, Air21’s Merculio Ramos Jr., Azad’s Amir Zargari and Giant Kenda’s Alex Coutts share sixth place with identical times of 9:06:06.

Giant Kenda’s Jai Crawford round up the top 10 at 9:06:07 while Pangasinan native and Air21’s Arnel Quirimit, American Vinyl’s Nicolas Edmundo and Klevin Mendoza, Birdgestone/Anchor’s Miyataka Shimizu, Azad’s Farshad Salehian, Suren’s Mohammad Gharehbaghi Pouri, Road Bike Phls’ Dante Cagas and Joel Calderon and 7-Eleven’s Mark John Galedo tote 9:06:11 aggregate clockings.

Also in the hunt are 7-Eleven’s Irish Valenzuela (9:06:14) and Sherwin Carrera (9:06:15), Smart’s Baler Ravina (9:06:16) and King of the Mountain leader Oscar Rendole (9:06:19), Suren’s Ramin Mehrabani Azar (9:06:23), Smart’s Tomas Martinez (9:06:23) and W ow Videoke’s Jayson Garillo (9:06:26).

The day, however, belonged to the unheralded Golakhour, who nipped American Vinyl’s Joven in the mad dash to the finish to take lap honors in 3:37:12 worth $800 in the race backed by Wow Videoke, American Vinyl, Phoenix Fuel, Maynilad, Cannondale-Mavic, Roadbike Philippines, 7-Eleven, Integrated Waste Management Inc., Shopinas and SignMedia.

The feat sent the 25-year-old Golakhour, the fifth rider of the fancied Azad team, to 27th place with a total time of 9:08:17, 2:26 minutes behind Emami.

Joven, with a 9:08:21 clocking, joined the Iranian when they broke away from the pack in Tabriz town, or nine kilometers from Iba and never wavered until they approached the Lingayen finish line.

“I was determined to win this one in preparation for tomorrow’s (today) important race,” said Golakhour, a lap winner in the Tour de Langkawi and a noted mountain climber, through an interpreter.

“I’ll try to make my move in the next stage and there should be no problem since I’m used to climbing mountains,” he added.

Obosa is also barely hanging on the lead in the sprint category with 15 points while Shiri Sisan, Golakhour, Emami, Inoue and Joven have 14, 13, 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Azad, meanwhile, paces the team race with 27:17:21, less than a minute ahead of 7-Eleven with 27:18:18 and over a minute over Giant Kenda with 27:18:28.

OCBC of Singapore pulled out of the race due to the scorching summer heat with the entire team packing and leaving Sunday night.

Renato Sembrano of Road Bike Phls tried to keep pace with Golakhour and Joven but failed to sustain the pace and faded entering a climb in Mabini, Pangasinan.

The chase group included defending Le Tour champion David McCann, three minutes behind Golakhour in Sual, 30 kms to go, but closed in on the lead pack by less than two minutes exiting Labrador town.

McCann, the Giant Kenda’s skipper slowed down by an injury, however, opted to just urge his fellow riders in the peloton to keep up the pace in a bid to reduce the lead of Golakhour and Joven to 50 seconds in the last four kilometers.

Tots Oledan was the day’s lone casualty after he took a spill just 10 kms into the race, forcing the 7-Eleven rider to board an ambulance after sustaining abrasions on his knees.