RI's Djatmiko scratches in Philippines tour event

CALAMBA, Philippines (Agencies): Indonesia's Djatmiko and Kenichi Yusuda of Japan withdrew from the fourth stage of the Marlboro Centennial Tour of the Philippines yesterday.

Djatmiko abandoned the race to leave the team with only a single rider Kaswanto, who finished a low 55th yesterday.

Indonesian ace rider Tonton Susanto was the first to make an early when he withdrew in Friday's second stage. Three more Indonesians crashed out in Sunday's third stage, with Suyitno and Mohammad Ali Kaprawi resigning after a massive collision on Manila coastal road and Andi Sistiawan going out through a stomach cramp.

In contrast, Warren Davadilla of the Philippines underscored his worth as general classification leader and yellow jersey holder yesterday by ruling the difficult fourth stage.

Davadilla, who wrested the yellow jersey from teammate Arnel Quirimit after the second stage, humbled his three breakaway partners in the sprint for home to nail down his first stage victory in a three-year career.

It was a masterful performance for the 23-year-old from Malabon, Metro Manila, who relegated Quirimit to second this time at the end of the 226.2km drive that featured a long uphill climb to a mountain park in Quezon province, 116km into the race. The lead pack timed five hours 51 minutes and 30 seconds.

But Quirimit consoled himself by second overall from Gonzalo Espiritu of Pangasinan, 4:57 behind Davadilla.

Rookie Santy Barnachea of Pangasingan continued to show tremendous promise by hanging on to finish third over the hard- luck Malaysian Hoong Tsen Seong, who prevented an all-Filipino show for the day.

The veteran Hoong could have challenged for stage honors but he took a spill in the last two kilometers. Undaunted, he got up quickly, gave chase and caught up with the three scampering Filipinos a kilometer from the finish.

The show of courage amply rewarded the Malaysian as he moved up to third place overall in a tie with Barnachea, 5:26 off Davadilla.

The Malaysians, however, fell to third in the team general classification behind Pangasinan as Gonzalo Espiritu, second in the general classification when the stage started, managed to come home with the third group.

The Tour heads for Antipolo, Rizal today via a 137.7km fifth stage that features five mountain climbs (one Category 1, two Category 2's and two Category 3's).