Lass beats hot weather, strong rivals to win 10th stage

Cycling

Lass was strongly supported by teammates to catch up with the leading group and he sprinted to the finish line first. — VNA/VNS Photo 

QUẢNG BÌNH — Martin Lass won his third stage of the 2024 HCM City Television Cycling Tournament on April 13.

The Estonian rider finished first in the tournament's 10th stage covering 162.5km from Đồng Hới City, Quảng Bình Province to Huế City of Thừa Thiên-Huế Province in a time of 4hr 08.22min.

Despite the third long distance in a row, cyclists opened consecutive attacks in early time under ideal weather of light win, no sunshine and supportive temperature.

Trần Vương Lộc of the Military made impressive pedalling 1.5km from the start line to run away, forcing a dozen riders to follow him, marking the split of the peloton into two groups with a gap of 2.30min.

Võ Thanh An of 620 Châu Thới Vĩnh Long then open a small attack and the leading group was again divided into two.

When the peloton reached Quảng Trị, the hot weather strongly affected their speed.

Lass was strongly supported by teammates to catch up with the leading group and he sprinted to the finish line first, leaving behind Trần Tuấn Kiệt of Dopagan Đồng Tháp and Lê Nguyệt Minh of HCM City New Group.

Defending champion Petr Rikunov of Lộc Trời Group was a hair gap behind Minh, successfully maintaining his best sprinter classification's top position after 10 stages.

Timofei Ivanov of HCM City Vinama still topped the overal ranking, followed by Rikunov and Igor Frolov of HCM CIty New Group.

The team's ranking was unchanged with HCM City Vinama, Lộc Trời Group and Le Fruit Đồng Nai dominating top three.

The 11th stage will be from 20 laps around Trường Tiền-Phú Xuân area in Huế on 2.1km. — VNS