Road cyclists struggle behind familiar, ageless HK winner
GUANGZHOU—The country’s cycling bid took a 90-degree turn for the worse.
Irish Valenzuela lost his chance to contend for a podium finish in cycling’s road race event when he got caught in the bottom half of a peloton that was furiously split by a crash that took place in a rare turn in the final stretch Monday in the 16th Asian Games here.
The 23-year-old Valenzuela was bracing to engage the lead peloton in the final kilometer of the 180-km race when the group hit a sharp 90-degree bend in the last 800 meters that sent three cyclists—including star Indonesian rider Tonton Susanto—crashing.
“Tonton crashed just in front of me, splitting the group in the last 800,” said Valenzuela, named best young rider of the 2009 Padyak Pinoy. “The turn was tight and it veered to the right. It looked like only two riders at a time could fit through it.”
Valenzuela, caught behind the crash, stayed upright but could no longer catch up with the group that made the turn before the mishap. He finished 4:15:08.25 for 24th place while teammate Lloyd Luciean Reynante wound up two places back at 4:15:14.09.
Ageless Hong Kong rider Wong Kam Po ruled the event, but even that happened controversially.
Wong finished in four hours, 14 minutes and 54.18 seconds but as actually beaten to the finish by Park Sung-baek of Korea. However, Park was punished 18 slots down and finished at 19th for interference near the finish.
Officials acted on the protest of Wong.
Wong, the 37-year-old former Marlboro Tour champion (1997), edged Japan’s Takashi Miyazawa and China’s Zou Rongxi at the finish for the gold.
Susanto—who also rode the Marlboro Tour—failed to finish the race along with Vietnam’s Nguyen Hung Mai, the reigning Southeast Asian Games champion who caused the crash near the finish.
However, it wasn’t entirely the Vietnamese’s fault. The finish, according to a licensed race official, breaks convention with the turn near the finish. Normal races ran by the UCI have straight paths from three kilometers out of the finish line.
The sport’s last chance to win a medal for the country now lies on the shoulders of Marites Bitbit, the Philippines lone female entry who will campaign in the women’s road race Tuesday. Photo from GAGOC
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