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.