Comebacking Catalan reclaims cycling crown

JAKARTA – Alfie Catalan returned to the SEA Games to reclaim the 4000m individual pursuit championship, outpedalling an Indonesian rival in the final to hand the 17-strong Team Philippines its first gold through eight days of cycling competitions here yesterday.

Beaten by Projo Waseso in the qualifying run Saturday, Catalan got back at the Indonesian in the race that mattered the most, winning back the title he had failed to defend in Laos in 2009.

The Phl riders failed to compete in the 25th Laos Games due to the leadership strife in their federation.

The 5-foot-11 Pangasinense rider was only 25 when he first ruled this event at home in 2005. He made it two in a row in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2007.

In 2006, he finished only 14th in a field of 26 in the same event in the Doha Asiad but smashed the four-year-old Philippine record with a time of 4:48.275.

At the Velodrome Rawamangun here, Catalan clocked 4:57.080 in the qualifying but improved by four seconds with the gold medal on the line to wild cheers from his teammates.

Catalan beat the Indon by three seconds.

The Philippines scored a 1-3 finish in the Individual Pursuit with Rene Mier topping Malaysian Amir Mustafa in the race for the bronze.

Apryl Eppinger added a second silver in the women’s sprint, and the 4,000-meter team pursuit squad of Mier, Catalan, John Paul Morales and Arnold Marcelo took the bronze.

The Phl riders, thus, raised their medal haul to one gold, four silvers and seven bronzes.

The other silvers were courtesy of Joey Barba in downhill, Ramil Galledo in 180km massed start and Eppinger in 500m individual time trial.

Eppinger, a Fil-Australian rider who’s racing for the Phl team since 2007, was also to vie in the sprint later in the day.