Tran Tuan Kiet steps onto the podium for the 5th time

On April 24, the 35th Ho Chi Minh City Television Cup National Cycling Race - 2023 "Non Song Lien Mot Dai - Niem Tin Chien Thang" HTV - Ton Dong A took place in the 20th stage from Ben Tre to Can Tho with a 128 km racing route.

With relentless efforts, the racers ended with an impressive victory by the "sprint king" of Vietnamese cycling, Tran Tuan Kiet (Dopagan Dong Thap).

The race progress showed that with the goal of bringing racer Nguyen Huong, who had good sprint form in the previous 2 stages, the racers of Dong Nai and Kenda Dong Nai teams took the initiative to lead the group, pulling a large group to chase the 3 leading racers. The chase was successful when crossing Can Tho bridge, 6 km from the finish line. However, at the end, the racers of Duoc Domesco Dong Thap and Dopagan Dong Thap teams proactively rushed to the front, pushing the speed up very high to bring the sprinter Tran Tuan Kiet back to compete in the sprint at the finish line.

French racer Loic Desriac contributed greatly by putting Tran Tuan Kiet in a favorable position to withdraw and the number 1 sprinter of Vietnamese cycling affirmed his strength when he crossed the finish line first after 2 hours 51 minutes 41 seconds (average speed 44.734 km/h).

Sharing after the victory, Tran Tuan Kiet thanked his teammates, especially his senior Loic Desric, for their full support to help him achieve today's victory.

This is the 5th time in the tournament that Tran Tuan Kiet has won a stage. Although he no longer has a chance to compete for the Green Jersey title due to dropping out in a previous stage, with 20 million VND for each stage win, Tran Tuan Kiet alone has brought home a total of 100 million VND in prize money for the pink lotus racing team, up to now. Trinh Duc Tam (Loc Troi Group) finished second and Nguyen Van Binh (HCMC New Group) finished third in stage 20.

With the group finishing in the top group, the titles after 20 stages remained unchanged. The yellow jersey and the green jersey still belonged to Russian foreigner Petr Rikunov. The orange jersey - the impressive athlete for the best Vietnamese racer - was still held by Nguyen Thang (HCMC Vinama). The white jersey for the best young racer was still held by Pham Le Xuan Loc (Military Zone 7).

Quang Liem

Source: https://nld.com.vn/the-thao/tran-tuan-kiet-lan-thu-5-buoc-len-buc-chien-thang-chang-202304241356333.htm