KUALA LUMPUR—The absence of a domistique or teammate took its toll on Marella Salamat as she fell short of making the podium in cycling’s women’s criterium in the 29th Southeast Asian Games on Monday at the Dataran Putrajaya course.
Salamat, a gold medalist in the individual time trial in Singapore two years ago, was in a bunch finish with 10 other riders but could not squeeze up front of the tight sprint.
The lone Philippine entry in women’s cycling in the Games clocked one hour, two minutes and nine seconds over the 35-kilometer (seven laps over a 5-km circuit), the same clocking as 1-2-3 finishers Thi That Nguyen of Vietnam, Ju Pha Som Net of Malaysia and Jutatip Maneephan of Thailand.
Thirteen riders answered the gun and all finished the race but it was only Salamat who didn’t have a teammate. The six other countries—including Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia—had two riders each in the race.
Salamat said her strategy was to closely guard the European-trained Maneephan, knowing that the reigning champion and two-time Olympic campaigner is a prolific sprinter who is capable of zooming to the finish.
But her tactic didn’t work as a gutsy Thi saw that as a golden opportunity to steal the thunder and the gold.
“The Thai rider is a very good sprinter,” Salamat said. “Unfortunately, my tactic of closely guarding her didn’t work as other riders saw it as an opportunity to attack.
“But it was still a good race. At least there was no breakaway,” she added.
Also falling short was Jerry Aquino, who finished fourth in the men’s contest raced over 45 km (nine laps over the same 5-km circuit).
Aquino clocked 59:35.34 seconds to finish behind Mohd Harrif Saleh (59:34.77) of Malaysia, Tanawut Sanikwhati (59:34.79) of Thailand and Mohd Zamri Saleh (59:34.88) also of Malaysia.
“I’m still satisfied with how I performed. Although breaks didn’t go my way, it was still a good race,” she said, vowing that she would bounce back in the women’s road race on Wednesday.