HK's Man upstages Wong in the mountains
Unheralded Man Wai-chung came close to giving Hong Kong a consolation boost yesterday when he almost won the gruelling 199.8-kilometre mountain stage to and from Baguio in the Centennial Tour of the Philippines.
Man, who has been riding in the shadow of defending champion Wong Kam-po, finished the 13th stage in six hours, six minutes and 42 seconds. But the effort was only good enough for second place, 36 seconds behind winner and Philippine team captain Victor Espiritu.
Espiritu charged home in the final five kilometres, leaving Man behind as the uphill climb became excruciatingly difficult.
Espiritu, in fifth position overall, clocked 6:06:06 for the course, which took the riders down through the scary Marcos Highway twice and up to the famous mountain resort on two different routes.
Man stands 23rd in the overall standings and his surprise runner-up finish was the best so far for the Hong Kong team, whose pride and joy, Wong, is struggling.
Wong yesterday finished 19th in 6:22:54, 16 minutes and 48 seconds behind the winner.
Wong, who finished second to Espiritu in this stage last year, moved up the overall rankings from 24th to 20th, but he is over an hour behind the owner of the yellow jersey, Warren Davadilla of the Philippines.
Davadilla recaptured the leader's yellow jersey a day after losing it to teammate Arnel Quirimit. Davadilla, 23, currently holds a seven minutes and 56 seconds lead over Quirimit with three stages remaining.
Today's 14th stage is still set in Baguio and consists of individual time trials over a 27.5-km course.
