THE 7-ELEVEN Road Bike Philippines struggled to keep up in their Olympic bid after three stages of cycling action in the Tour of Jelajah in Malaysia yesterday.
The 6-man national cycling team failed to make a podium finish in the 103-kilometer Bandar Baru Bangi to Motac Putrajaya stage.
Terangganu Malaysia’s top biker Anuar Manan clocked 2:14:58 to trounce his opponents.
South Korea’s veteran rider Sung Baek Park finished second place to let the Koreans earn five UCI points.
This gives Korea (281 points) a 15-point advantage over the Philippines (266 points) in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Asia rankings.
In the Stage Individual Classification, the Filipinos are led by Dominic Perez, who came in 12th place followed by Marcelo Felipe (21st), Cebuano Nelson Martin (41st), Ryan Cayubit (57th), Baler Ravina (63rd) and Mark Galedo (75th).
In the General Classification (GC), Felipe stood at 10th, 2:28 behind SkyDive Dubai’s Francisco Mancebo. Felipe is trailed by his teammates Cayubit (23rd), Ravina (44th), Perez (54th) and Martin (76th) out of 85 competitors.
The GC is still led by the consistent Mancebo who is trailed by HongKong’s King Cheung, teammate Andrea Palini and Korea’s Okcheol Kim, respectively.
The Philippines still stands at fourth in Team Classification.
They will compete in their attempt to earn needed UCI Olympic points in today’s 115km Berjaya Times Square to Putrajaya race.