PH biker Nichol Pareja named Best Asian Rider in Le Tour De Langkawi Stage 7

Nichol Pareja.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA—A Filipino stole the show among the Asian cyclists competing in the penultimate stage of the Petronas Tour De Langkawi in Malaysia.

Nichol Pareja posted the best finish among the Asian riders in the seventh of eight races in this season's cycling tournament on Monday.

Pareja finished in a four-way for 14th place with Kane Richards, Etienne Van Empel, and Torstei Traeen, completing the 90.8-kilometer course from Kuah to Gunung Raya at two hours, 21 minutes, and 31 seconds.

Following the photo-finish tiebreaker, Pareja settled for 16th place, but that was still enough to beat Andray Zeits and Jambaljamts Sainbayar for the Best Asian Rider honors.

Sainbayar and Zeits ended up in the peloton group that finished about 70 seconds slower than Stage 7 winner Sjoerd Bax.

Zeits eventually got the better of Sainbayar in the photo-finish, but Sainbayar still holds the white jacket, given to the current Asian leader in the tour, as he leads Zeits by a single second in the general classification standings with one stage remaining, a 115.9-kilometer circuit race on Tuesday which will start and end in Kuah.

The Philippine team, which also consists of Marcelo Felipe, Rench Bondoc, Marco Lumanog, John Salazar, and Junreck Carcueva remains the top performing national team in the event, leading host country Malaysia by a little more than an hour in total finishing time.

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