Vietnamese cyclist snatches 2nd consecutive stage win at annual national race

Many other racers from Ho Chi Minh City-New Group, 620 Chau Thoi – Vinh Long, and Quan Doi also left their mark with impressive attacks throughout 141 kilometers from Thanh Hoa Province to Nghe An Province in north-central Vietnam on the eighth day of the tournament.

However, they faced tough competition from Tap Doan Loc Troi and Gao Hat Ngoc Troi’s cyclists in an effort to convoy Quang Van Cuong — the holder of both the prestigious yellow jersey and blue jersey, which are given to the riders leading the general classification and the points category, respectively.

All of the riders later merged into one pack as they rushed to the finish line.

In the final sprint, Kiet excellently outpaced Cuong in three hours, 15 minutes, and 40 seconds at an average speed of 43.237 kilometers per hour to finish in first place.

This is Kiet’s second consecutive stage win at this year’s race after the first in the seventh leg. 

It helped the Dopagan Dong Thap rider narrow his gap with Cuong in the points category to only one point.

Cuong retained both the yellow jersey and the blue jersey despite the eighth stage’s result.

Le Nguyet Minh of Ho Chi Minh City-New Group and Phan Hoang Thai of Duoc Domesco Dong Thap narrowly avoided an accident in the last kilometers.

All of the cyclists are scheduled to take a break on Wednesday before racing more than 200 kilometers from Nghe An Province to Quang Binh Province, the longest distance of the tourney, in the ninth stage on Thursday.

The HTV Cup race has been held annually since 1989 and is considered Vietnam’s ‘Tour de France.’

In its 34th edition, the competition will take 98 cyclists from 14 competing teams through 2,316.2 kilometers in 23 stages from north to south in celebration of Vietnam’s reunification day on April 30, 1975.

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