Big guns assume lead in Tour de Langkawi

CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Malaysia – After a short romance with history, Filipino cyclists took a backseat on Saturday as the big guns showed the way and finally put order in the ninth Tour de Langkawi, the world’s richest cycling competition outside of Europe.

Merculio Ramos, who pulled off a historic feat by becoming the first Asian to wear the yellow jersey following a neutralized stage where nobody was declared winner, figured in a massive spill early on.

He found himself with a big group that came home 20.43 seconds behind lap winner Marlon Perez of Columbia Selle-Italia, who clocked 3 hours and 42.50 seconds.

Ramos was running with the lead pack in the first 30 kilometers when he was bumped from behind, resulting in the crash of 15 riders and allowing a few others to break away.

Churning out the best performance by a Filipino was Lloyd Reynante, the ceremonial Asian leader as he brushed aside a spill midway and finished 44th overall in the 156-km 2nd stage that started smoothly from the plain Ipoh City to this mountainous resort famous for its world-class tea concoctions.

Reynante’s gallant effort put him at No. 8 in the Asian individual standing, 2 minutes and 59 seconds behind pacesetter Iranian Ghader Mizbani, who finished 13th overall with a time of 3.44:31.

Following Mizbani are Tonton Susanto of Wismilak, Indonesia, Ahad Kazemi of Iran, Tomoya Kano of Japan, Sharul Razali of Malaysia, and China’s Xueli Jiang and Xhiaojun Shao.

"Mas maganda pa sana ang takbo kung ‘di ako sumemplang. Wala na akong tubig, hiwa-hiwalay na kasi kami at makipot ang daan kaya ‘di umaabot sa amin iyung service ng tubig," said Reynante, son of Tour of Luzon legend Manuel.

The lung-busting 62-km zigzagging trek to the summit, however, proved too much for other Filipino riders who carry the Pagcor banner, the first professional cycling team accredited by Philcycling and UCI.

Rhyan Tanguilig also complained of failing to get enough liquid as he managed to finish at 58th. Rounding out the fourth player to count in the Asian Team standing was captain Victor Espiritu, who clung to 61st despite suffering leg cramps in the final 30 kilometers.

Ronald Gorrantes, Albert Primero and Alfie Catalan failed to join the upper half of the 147-man field in this 2.2 ranked race, which is only a shade below Tour de France’s 2.1.

Pagcor, which has a collective clocking of 11 hours, 31 minutes and 38 seconds, is now 7 minutes and 13 seconds four fourth behind pacesetter Iran, Japan and Iran.

Following Pagcor are Malaysia and Wismilak, which failed to get enough firepower from other riders despite Susanto’s heroic ride.

"Maganda naman ang tayo natin. Buti na rin at ‘di na gaanong pinuwersa, napahinga na lang si Elmo (Ramos)," said coach Cezar Lobramonte, who is bracing the team for 171-km third stage that will start from Jalan Raha in Tapah to Raub.