Ramos dons yellow jersey in Langkawi

TAIPING, Malaysia — Merculio Ramos emerged the first Asian rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de Langkawi after the first leg which started without a hitch and ended in a traffic snarl.

After staging a daring breakaway en route to winning two of the three sprint stages, Ramos was awarded the yellow jersey when race officials decided to neutralize the race results.

Nobody was declared winner in the relatively short and flat 112-km ride from the bustling island city of Penang to this coastal town north of Kuala Lumpur.

The race ended in a farce when police on duty, apparently miscounting the number of laps to be covered in the finishing circuit, allowed vehicles to come pouring onto the course. Heavy traffic formed around the roads of the Lake Garden as the peloton approached the final eight kilometers.

This hampered the big guns, led by the Health Net Pro squad of the United States, who were all set for what could have been a mad scramble to the finish.

Earlier, Ramos and China’s Zhu Yong Biao broke away from the main pack in the first seven kilometers and kept the pace most of the way. The rest of the 147 riders patiently kept the deficit manageable until they caught up with Ramos and Zhu entering the scenic Lake Garden where they would complete a two lap, eight-km circuit race.

It did not materialize, however, as the marshals allowed vehicles to enter the roads around the park, resulting to traffic jam that slowed down the riders who reached the finish en masse and were all given identical 2 hours and 35.09 seconds clockings.

Race officials decided to „neutralize the result of the race‰ but nevertheless recognized the efforts of Ramos, Zhu and another Pagcor rider Lloyd Reynante with ceremonial honors.

Zhu was awarded the blue jersey for sprint honors while Reynante is the recognized Asian leader with the red/white jersey. What was deemed unfair was the non-awarding of sprint points to Ramos and Zhue who achieved the feats even before confusion marred the stage. But they will receive the prize money equivalent to their efforts.

Reynante was with two Malaysian riders in the chase group which maintained considerable gap before being gobbled back to the peloton halfway in the race.