For the sixth time, the Russian cyclist won the race in the Trans-Vietnam tournament
The journey from Phan Rang to Da Lat is always the most challenging and arduous road of the Television Cup. Although only 123km long, the riders have to conquer two spectacular (climbing 18km) and Mimosa (climbing 10km) and many slopes.
On the day of the competition, Vietnamese riders with good mountain climbing ability such as Nguyen Thang (Vinama Ho Chi Minh City), Pham Le Xuan Loc (Military Zone 7), Nguyen Tan Hoai (Loc Troi Group) followed the group. Foreign soldiers who have the ability to climb passes are good, such as Igor Frolov (Vinama HCMC), Petr Rikunov (Loc Troi Group), Javier Perez (Binh Minh Plastics - Binh Duong), Vladislav Duiunov (Ho Chi Minh City New Group).
But near the top of Ngoan Muc pass, the foreign soldiers attacked strongly, causing all the internal soldiers to fall behind. The top only four riders, Frolov, Rikunov, Perez, Duiunov, and Frolov finished the first pass, holding the Red Shirt for the climbing king.
This group of foreign soldiers then pedaled at high speed, causing the groups behind to be further and further behind, sometimes more than six minutes. At the Mimosa Pass, another attack at the top left Javier Perez behind. The three Russian foreign soldiers pressed the pedal hard to the top of the Mimosa Pass, but this time, it was Duiunov's turn to finish first, Frolov second and Rikunov third.
At the end of the Mimosa pass, Rikunov launched a powerful attack to the finish line, making Frolov and Duiunov work very hard to succeed. But Rikunov still affirmed his strength when he finished first in Da Lat to have the sixth time to win the stage to protect the Yellow Vest and the Blue Shirt. Race time 3 hours 1 minute 22 seconds, average speed 38.375km/h.
The race for the Ao Cam race for the impressive domestic driver - between Xuan Loc and Nguyen Thang - is equally attractive. After falling out of the first group, these two cyclists trailed each other in the second group. When entering the Mimosa pass, Xuan Loc repeatedly attacked to capture Nguyen Thang's Orange shirt, but in the end the Ho Chi Minh City driver also stood firm against the opponent's rushing attacks to successfully defend this title. 18-year-old driver Xuan Loc still holds the title of white shirt for the outstanding young driver.
Tomorrow, April 19, the group will have a free break in Da Lat before competing in the 16-round race on Xuan Huong Lake, 51km long.
