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South African rules Stage 2 of PRURide race

By Jean Malanum

May 26, 2019, 11:43 am

<p><strong>STAGE 2:</strong> South African Brendon Davids (center) raises his trophy after winning the  second stage of the PRURide PH race in Subic, Zambales on Saturday (May 25, 2019). Filipino Marcelo Felipe (left) of 7-Eleven Cliqq Air 21 and New Zealander Michael Vink of Australian continental team St. George finished second and third, respectively. <em>(Photo courtesy of Ric Rodriguez) </em></p>

STAGE 2: South African Brendon Davids (center) raises his trophy after winning the  second stage of the PRURide PH race in Subic, Zambales on Saturday (May 25, 2019). Filipino Marcelo Felipe (left) of 7-Eleven Cliqq Air 21 and New Zealander Michael Vink of Australian continental team St. George finished second and third, respectively. (Photo courtesy of Ric Rodriguez) 

SUBIC, Zambales -- South African Brendon Davids showed his mountain-climbing skill to win the second stage of the PRURide PH race here.

The 25-year-old Davids, a member of Australia's continental team Oliver's Real Food, finished the challenging 164.5-kilometer race which started at the Harbor Point Mall inside the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and ended at the "Dambana ng Kagitingan" (Shrine of Valor) on Mt. Samat in four hours, 40 minutes and 55 seconds.

"This is one of the most difficult climbs I had," said Davids, who was born in the coastal city of Durban but is now based in Adelaide. He also won the Sprints Points Leader green jersey.

Local rider Marcelo Felipe of 7-Eleven Cliqq Air 21 finished second with a time of four hours, 41 minutes and 3 seconds, while New Zealander Michael Vink of Australian continental team St. George placed third in 4:45:20.

For his effort, Marcelo received the Best Filipino Rider blue jersey, King of the Mountain orange jersey and the Overall Classification red jersey which he will wear during the 93.4-kilometer third stage on Sunday.

Daniel Ven Carino of Go For Gold Philippines was awarded the Best Young Rider black jersey.

After two stages, Marcelo leads the General Classification board with a time of 7 hours, 57 minutes and 15 seconds. Davids ranks second (7:58:02) followed by Vinks (8:01:27).

A total of 156 professional cyclists from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and the Philippines are competing in the PRURide PH, which is a 2.2 event sanctioned by the International Cycling Federation.

Among the 17 foreign teams competing, Malaysia's Terengganu Inc. TSG is the best-ranked in the Asia Tour at No. 2 followed by Hong Kong's Pro Cycling, which is No. 8.

Six local teams are also competing in the PRURide road race. These are Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance, Philippine Army-Bicycology, Team Tarlac, Celeste Cycles-Bianchi PH Pro Racing, Team Francis Wines and Team Pangasinan.

Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam are represented by their national teams with Thai Navuti Liphongyu as the world's highest-ranked rider in the competition at No. 493.

The PRURide PH 2019 also features PruRide Masters, Virtual Ride, Philippine Strider Cup and Grand Fondo 30km, 60km and 100km races for amateur cyclists.

To further promote health and fitness, fun activities such as Zumba sessions, arcade games and health check stations are also lined up during the country's largest cycling festival. (PNA)

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