FOR Marella Vania Salamat, the grind continues and Vietnam was the latest destination for her to send a strong message that she’ll be a force on the saddle.
Salamat finished a strong eighth in the general classification of the recent International Biwase Cup in Vietnam, improving one rung from her debut in 2016 in one of the most attractive professional races in Asia.
In a field of 90 cyclists from 18 teams—10 Vietnamese and eight foreign—Salamat indeed made her mark anew. She was fourth among Southeast Asian riders, making her prime to peak in time for the Kuala Lumpur 29th Southeast Asian Games this August.
The 22-year-old pride of Bugallon in Pangasinan clocked an aggregate time of 21 hours, 52 minutes and 42 seconds in nine stages raced over 828 kilometers, finishing some five minutes behind 42-year-old champion Karami Miyoko of Japan.
Miyoko rode true to her veteran spurs and also ran away with the Queen of the Mountain trophy in the race, which, despite being a non-International Cycling Union event, still lured teams from Thailand, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.
“This year is much tougher as compared to last year, because there were more teams participating, which are really strong and very defensive. Most of them also are sprinters unlike me, who is not,” said Salamat, the reigning individual time-trial champion of the Sea Games who, unfortunately, could not defend her crown in the August 19 to 31 Games because the Malaysian organizers dropped the time trial from the program.
Salamat was not in the magic 10 picture in the early stages but decided to make her move in the last two legs.
“My only chance to get into the top 10 is through a breakaway. I did that during the eighth and ninth stage after cutting down the two-minute gap [to Miyoko],” Salamat recalled. “But it was really hard to find my way out because most of them were really aggressive and defensive.”
The Philippines’s top female rider was aggressive in the final two stages. Salamat missed the podium by two places at fifth in the 120-km eighth stage, but was able to go two notches up in the general classification Miyoko already held with former Sea Games gold medalist Supaksorn Nuthana of Thailand running second.
In the ninth stage, she locked in with an eight-cyclist breakaway in the last 50 km of the 120-km trek to finish seventh with the same clocking as stage winner Nuthana to keep her grip of eighth place overall.
Salamat’s teammates, Avegail Rombaon, Genesis Marana and Irish Wong, had trouble keeping up with the pace for nine days but still manage modest finishes at 28th, 37th and 60th, respectively, in the race held from March 8 to 16
The national team coached by Cesar Lobramonte with Edwin Nio as team support clocked 66:04:22 in the general classification to finish seventh overall. The host’s Team Biwase (65:38:30) edged Thailand (65:39:27) in the team classification.
Salamat said the Vietnam race gave her more confidence for the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.
“My spirit was uplifted after the race. And I think it will help me a lot in my campaign in August,” Salamat said.
Salamat will compete in the Tour of Thailand next month, a pre-SEA Games race in May and another race in July.
“We will join more races we can gauge our speed and endurance even against male riders. We should also step up our sprint training in order to fill in our deficiencies,” she added.
Salamat groped in the early stages but still settled threateningly close to the leaders at 13th place. She dropped to 15th place from Stage 5 to 7 before pouring it all in the last two days of the race that traversed Vietnam’s countryside in Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Binh Duong.
The International Biwase Cup ran its seventh edition which covered an out-and-back route that started from from Bình Dương. Miyoko received $1,700 in winning the race which organizers dubbed as a “Blue Sea” race in their effort to encourage people to protect the environment and the oceans, and contribute to sustainable development.