RP riders stay at 6th in Vietnam tour

MANILA, Philippines - Lloyd Reynante and Mark Sean Guevarra lost in the face of their rivals’ spirited charge as Roadbike Phils.-711 remained in sixth place after six legs of the Binh Duong TV Cup Tour of Vietnam last Sunday.

Reynante and Guevarra, the 2009 Tour of Luzon champion, surged ahead of the pack in the 134-km drive from Tuy Hoa to the popular tourist spot of Na Thrang, but got caught up by the scrambling field with a kilometer left from the finish line.

“If the other teams did not gang up on Lloyd and Mark with a kilometer to go, we could have finished better,” said team director Ric Rodriguez in an e-mail message after the 61-man wave caught up with Reynante and Guevarra near the end of the race.

Reynante placed 14th, Mark Rhome Antonio 18th and Guevarra 21st with identical times of three hours, 12 minutes and 48 seconds behind leg winner Do Tuan Anh.

“Anyway, we have a rest day on Monday. We’ll try to bounce back in the last three stages,” said Rodriguez.

Reynante, the 31-year-old national rider and son of Tour legend Mawi Reynante, slid a notch in the overall standings but was still the best-placed Filipino in the competition at 17th place (16:17.05), 1:51 off Mongolian yellow jersey holder Tuguldur Tuulkhangai (16:15.14).