NAGA CITY – Australian Sean Whitfield of Oliver’s Real Food won the second stage in a mass finish even as Terengganu Cycling Team’s Daniel Whitehouse retained the overall lead halfway into the Le Tour de Filipinas that ended yesterday here.
Whitfield won the 177.35-kilometer that began in Sorsogon City at four hours, 19 minutes and 21 seconds while Whitehouse also posted the same time after being part of the bunch finish to keep the symbolic yellow jersey going into the final two stages.
“Kinan (Cycling Team) made life hard (for me), which is good,” said Whitehouse after negotiating a tough course that ended in the capital city of Camarines Sur.
“They can get the KOM, they can get the sprint. It got hard when we hit the coast, and the road start to go up and down, and the rain and the wind, and the race on the KOM (King of the Mountain).”
“It was just attack, attack and attack,” added Whitehouse, who only started competing internationally when he was about 18 years old and is looking to win his first title.
After two days of competitions, the 22-year-old Whitehouse, who was born in Manchester but grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, remains the overall leader with a time of 8:15:24 in this race presented by Air21.
He is leading Australia’s Benjamin Hill of Attaque Team Gusto, behind by 1 minute and 57 seconds, followed by Japan’s Suzuki Ryu of Bridgestone Anchor (1:58), and Spain’s Fernando Grijalba of Kuwait Cartucho Es and Australia’s Jai Crawford of Kinan (2:00).
In the top 10 are Japan’s Eiichi Hirai, Australia’s Earle Nathan and Salvador Guardiola all from Team Ukyo, 2015 champion and Kinan veteran Tomas Lebas from France, and Spain’s Edgar Nieto of 7-Eleven all behind by 2 minutes and four seconds in this race sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI).