RI's Tonton outsprinted in Tour of the Philippines

RI's Tonton outsprinted in Tour of the Philippines

CEBU CITY, Philippines (Agencies): Indonesia's Asian Games
hopeful Tonton Susanto got off to a shaky start in the Tour of
the Philippines cycling race in the day which saw home riders
dominating the 193.5-kilometer first stage yesterday.

Tonton, who was placed ninth in Wednesday's prologue, showed
his mettle by clocking five hours, six minutes and five seconds
to finish 11th out of 84 starters.

It was a disappointing opener for the Indonesian team, which
is eying to wind up at least third in the annual race. Andi
Sistiawan and Mohammad Ali Kaprawi came 63rd and 73rd
respectively, while Suyitno, Kaswanto and Djatmiko failed to beat
the deadline of 5:58:26.00.

With a two-day time of 5:11:21, Tonton, who finished fifth
overall last year, trails overnight leader Arnel Quirimit of the
Philippines by 7mins and 29secs going into today's second stage.

Quirimit of the national team turned the opening stage into
his own personal show again while powering to an explosive start
and repeating his first stage winning performance of last year.

The 23-year-old Quirimit towed Philippine team-mate Warren
Davadilla and Malaysian Nor Effandy Rosli home to win the stage
with a time of 4:58:42.

It was the fourth straight time that the Philippine Army
private from Pozorrubio, Pangasinan has ruled the kick-off stage
of the annual Tour, which is dedicated this year to the country+s
celebration of 100 years of independence.

Quirimit leads Davadilla by 7secs and 23 seconds over Rosli, a
31-year-old veteran from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. in the
provisional standings.

Enrique Domingo finished seventh for the day as the Philippine
team forged ahead by 9mins 24secs in the General Team
Classification over Malaysia.

The top riders from China, who showed tremendous promise in
the Prologue, paced themselves in the face of the stifling heat
and unfamiliar road conditions and came home with the other rated
cyclists in the 19-man peloton, 15 minutes 16 seconds behind the
lead pack.

"We are very pleased with the overall performance of the China
team" manager Zhu Jinling said. "We are acclimatizing the team
and pacing ourselves. The weather is very hot but the team are
really working smoothly together, encouraging each other which is
a important element of how we ride."