Local rider wins Tour stage

Local rider wins Tour stage

CEBU, Philippines (AP): Filipino Virgilio Durain pushed hard
in the last 100 meters yesterday to narrowly win a four-kilometer
(2.5-mile) prologue to the 2,494-kilometer (1,558-mile) Tour of
the Philippines.

Durain, a mainstay of the Philippines' mountain bike team, was
timed at five minutes and 2.68 seconds.

Xuezhong Tang of China finished second in 5:2.95, followed by
Kumaresan Murugaya of Malaysia in 5:11.03.

Defending champion Wong Kam Po of Hong Kong, who reportedly is
reserving his energy for the latter stages of the tour, finished
13th with a time of 5:21.65.

Two other Chinese riders - fourth placer Yechen Xiao and sixth
placer Guangchun Pan - powered their team to the top position in
the team classification, followed by Malaysia and the
Philippines.

Filipino cyclists hope to regain the championship of the 19-
day race, which they lost when it was opened to foreigners last
year. A victory would be doubly significant this year because the
Philippines will mark its 100th anniversary of independence from
Spanish rule.

Team champion South Korea has decided not to defend its crown,
apparently because preparations were hampered by the effects of
Asia's financial crisis.

The race is one of the few cycling competitions designed
specifically for Asian racers. Other regional tournaments are
dominated by American and European racers.

The entry of foreign riders has added some glitter to the
country's most widely followed summer sports spectacle, but
threatens ill-equipped local racers, many of whom are farmers and
newspaper delivery boys who view the tour as a way out of
poverty.

Long-distance, multistage cycling in the Philippines began in
1955. It was initially confined to the main island of Luzon but
has since been widened to cover the entire archipelago.

It is considered one of Asia's toughest races, passing along
steep mountain trails and areas troubled by Muslim and Communist
insurgencies.