Ailing Tonton out of RP cycling Tour

Ailing Tonton out of RP cycling Tour

CEBU CITY, The Philippines (Agencies): Indonesian ace cyclist
Tonton Susanto withdrew in the Marlboro Centennial Tour of the
Philippines yesterday, handing a big blow to his team's title
hopes in the race.

Tonton, who finished fifth overall last year, had apparently
failed to recover after fighting heatstroke in Thursday's opening
stage in which he came 11th.

He quit on the verge of collapsing yesterday, 19 kilometers
into the race.

With 16 stages to go, inexperienced Andi Sistiawan is the
biggest hope of keeping Indonesia's remote chances alive. Andi
joined a group of 13 riders who clocked three hours, nine minutes
and 15 seconds covering a distance of 133.90 kilometers
yesterday.

The Malaysian team impressed the field on the third day of the
race, with young first-timer Mohammad Mahazir Hamad winning the
stage to make up a couple of third-place finishes. The 21-year-
old track specialist showed the way home for the five-man lead
pack at the end of the speed run from here to Argao and back in a
time of 3:06:38

Hamad relegated home favorite Warren Davadilla to second place
for the second straight day.

But the tiny Filipino found great consolation in wrestling the
yellow jersey from overnight leader and compatriot Arnei Quirmit.
Davadilla goes into today's third stage with a 24-second lead
over Gonzalo Espiritu of Pangasinan province, while Quirmit
dropped to the third overall at two minutes and 25 seconds
behind.

Davadilla's gutsy showing allowed the Philippine national team
to remain on top, although the hosts found the Malaysians
breathing hard down their necks with Hoon Tsen Seong placing
seventh on the day.

Defending champion Wong Kam-po of Hong Kong tried to attack in
the early going, but his breakaway bid was foiled by Espiritu.
Wong finished with the nine-man 12th group and found himself
trailing Davadilla by 12 minutes and 20 seconds.