Red shirt races across Vietnam to change owners

This morning's leg from Hue to Da Nang is only 108.5 km long, but the riders have to conquer three passes, Phuoc Tuong, Phu Gia and Hai Van to calculate Red Shirt points. In the two small passes, the strong riders take the initiative so that the group of riders cannot compete first. Therefore, driver Nguyen Nhut Phat of 620 Chau Thoi Vinh Long easily won these two passes.

But when entering the Hai Van pass, a group of strong pass riders appeared. Foreign soldiers Igor Frolov (Vinama HCMC), Petr Rikunov (Loc Troi Group), Loic Desriac (Domesco Dong Thap), Javier Sarda Perez (Binh Minh Binh Duong Plastics) attacked and left. Among these, Perez, Loic are former TV Cup Gold Shirts, Frolov is the current Yellow Shirt, and Peth Rikunov is holding the Yellow Shirt, they are the top foothills with strong legs to conquer Hai Van Quan.

In the middle of the pass, Loic fell behind due to exhaustion, and three riders Frolov, Rikunov, and Javier followed each other to the top of the pass. If last year, Frolov alone conquered the pass and then finished to win the Yellow Shirt and the Red Shirt in the end, then this year's prize won't be easy for him. Being chased by two opponents, Frolov still strongly reached the top of the first pass, winning 15 points to "tear" the Red Shirt from Bao Tin (Army, 6 points). Second in the pass is Rikunov and third Javier.

After going down the pass, all three of these riders changed their speed to reach the finish line in Da Nang. There, Rikunov with his strength withdrew Prez and Frolov after 2 hours 29 minutes 26 seconds, with an average speed of 43,364km/h.

Winning the stage for the third time, Rikunov further consolidated the title of Yellow Vest holding. The Russian rookie at the same time reclaimed the Blue Shirt after one day falling into the hands of Tuan Kiet, who was the penultimate in this race.

18-year-old driver Pham Le Xuan Loc of Military Region 7 finished in the top three, so he continues to keep the white shirt the best young driver and the orange shirt for the Vietnamese driver with the best record.

In the team tournament, An Giang took the lead, followed by Vinama Ho Chi Minh City and Domesco Dong Thap third.

Tomorrow, April 10, the eighth leg will take place from Da Nang to Quang Nam with a length of 83.2km.