After the first 12 stages, Igor Frolov of Ho Chi Minh City-Vinama was holding tight to the prestigious yellow jersey and the polka dot jersey, which are given to the riders leading the general classification and the mountains category, respectively.
Therefore, the competition in the 13th stage, which took the cyclists through 94 kilometers from Da Nang City to Tam Ky City in Quang Nam Province, focused on the blue jersey for the points classification.
The pack was quickly divided into two groups after the start.
After the first 30 kilometers, the two groups passed through Hoi An Ancient Town and Cua Dai Bridge before beginning a 60-kilometer stretch of coastal road.Â
The speeds reached up to 47 kilometers per hour at times.
The two packs merged into one again five kilometers before the finish.
Strong riders such as Nguyen Tan Hoai, Tran Tuan Kiet and Le Nguyet Minh surged forward with quick sprints about 20 meters away from the finish line.
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| Cyclists race in the 13th stage of the 2022 Ho Chi Minh City TV (HTV) Cup tournament from Da Nang City to Tam Ky City in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, April 19, 2022. Photo: M.Q. / Tuoi Tre |
Nguyen Tan Hoai showed impressive form to finish first with a time of one hour, 57 minutes 35 seconds, followed by Huynh Thanh Tung and Le Nguyet Minh.
This was Hoai’s fourth victory at this year’s tournament, helping him firmly consolidate his leading position in the points category with 102 points, 11 points more than second-placed Kiet.Â
He also rose to second place on the personal leaderboard.
The cyclists are scheduled to race 50 kilometers around Tam Ky City in the 14th stage of the tourney on Tuesday.
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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