A hilly 110km parcours will today host the first of two Asian Mixed NC-races!
Eight riders from 3 nations at the start and we already got our first champion, as Boonratanathanakorn (Simply Red Bull) will be the one and only starter for Thailand.
Hong Kong with four riders and two of the strongest (Yeung/PFG and Wu/Oz) may be the most thrilling group here.
Indonesia
Hong Kong
Jimmy Pranata (PFG-Armavia)
Ying Hon Yeung (PFG-Armavia)
Dadi Suryadi (PFG-Armavia)
Kin-San Wu (Oz Cycling)
Samai Samai (Sauber)
King Lok Cheung (Oz Cycling)
Ho-Ting Kwok (Meiji)
Thailand
T. Boonratanathanakorn (SRB)
The ever dangerous break of the day is built by just two riders today - both from Hong Kong:
Kwok (Hong Kong/Meiji)
Wu (Hong Kong/Oz)
Ain't the worst group, as Wu ain't rated much less stronger than Hong Kong's favorite Yeung..
We know the deal in such small races - the "bunch" behind would refuse to chase too hard and so the two escapees would battle for Hong Kong's road-title eventually:
Kin-San Wu takes it easily, dropping Kwok (ain't known as the best puncheur) on the final short ascent!
Almost 17 minutes later the spectators would know who's taking Indonesia's crown: Jimmy Pranata outsprints teammate Suryadi (PFG) to take his expected road-title. A few metres behind Boonratatata (sorry) finishes his own little race.
Road titles/
Kin-San Wu (Oz Cycling) Jimmy Pranata (PFG-Armavia) Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Simply Red Bull)*
A tough 39km TT-parcours will bring us the TT-champions for Hong Kong, Indonesia and well, Thailand (Boonratatata).
Thailand/ Credit where credit is due (in a way): Boonratanathanakorn seems to enjoy his ride to the double and actually puts up a strong performace against the clock.*
*invalid result
Indonesia/ The race for Indonesia's TT-title is a thrilling battle between the teammates Pranata and Suryadi (PFG), just like in the road race!
The two perform head-to-head (virtually) for the entire 39km, but in the end it's again Pranata, who takes the glory - beating Suryadi by 1 second!
Hong Kong/ Top-favorite Ho-Ting Kwok (Meiji) looks super-strong today and never in trouble as well. So this time it's Meiji beating Oz (Cheung, + 42 sec) and Kwok takes the TT-title!
Sai-Udomsin is quite a mistery. He somehow missed at the startlist for the Asian Mixed NC-race, but fortunately his manager from PFG-Armavia noticed his abscence and so the police quickly picked him up on this way... to anywhere..
So there will be a second run of this race for Thailand's NC - but only between Phucong Sai-Udomsin (PFG) and Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Simply Red Bull)! Bad luck for the latter, who already celebrated his double-victory a few hours before.
Let's got straight to the race though: Boonratana is rated a bit stronger on the hills than Udomsin, while the latter is rated as the stronger TT-rider.
Road Race: It's one hell of race between those two and they keep riding together til the finishing climb! And there kicks (still drunk) Boonratana first, quickly establishing a nice gap on (still confused) Udomsin..
..for the win! A dominating sprint finish by Boonratana to repeat his victory a few hours after his uncontested road title!
Road title/
Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Simply Red Bull)
Boonratana is also the first of the two to now go for the TT-honors: he definitely has more pressure than in his earlier attempt (.....), and finishes with 1h02'31" for the... provisional lead..
Time for Sai-Udomsin to get his manager the so awaited beautiful NC-shirt! He looks more focussed than in the "road race" and....
BT! He beats Bootana by 32" to at least take the TT-title! So the two share their victories, which is a good thing.
Indonesia
Hong Kong
Thailand
