Wong Kam-po lost ground on the leaders in the Centennial Tour of the Philippines yesterday as his bid to retain his title took a beating at the halfway mark of the 16-stage race.
Having gained almost three minutes after the seventh stage on Thursday, Wong needed a good performance to boost his hopes of making further inroads.
Instead, he lost three minutes and 48 seconds to the leaders after a poor effort in yesterday's 148.5-kilometre stage.
Wong paid the price for closely guarding his rivals, coming home seven minutes and 24 seconds behind stage winner Enrique Domingo of the Philippines.
Wong kept Filipino rider Victor Espiritu and China's Tang Xuezhong in his sights throughout the race and finished in 46th place behind Tang and Espiritu.
But Wong was still in a defiant mood saying he still had a chance of winning the race.
'My performance over the past two days has definitely improved. I have lost a lot of time in the early stages but I hope to gain some of this back in the following mountain stages. I'm feeling good.' Wong currently lies in 22nd place - 35 minutes and 54 seconds behind Tour leader Warren Davadilla.
