Unrivaled cyclist in Vietnam cycling race continues to win stage 11

Winning stage 11 this morning, April 21, the An Giang team racer firmly consolidated the yellow and green jersey positions at the Ho Chi Minh City Television Cup.

After 11 races, Thanh Tam has won four times. He has kept the yellow jersey continuously since the tournament started in Hanoi. Besides, Thanh Tam also showed strong sprints, surpassing seniors like Le Van Duan or Do Tuan Anh to take the green jersey.

Not only that, the 23-year-old racer also demonstrated his outstanding climbing ability when he excellently conquered Hai Van Pass in the ninth stage, thereby keeping the red dot jersey.

Assessing Thanh Tam, experts and the cycling community all believe that he is currently “unrivaled” and possesses all the qualities to become a strong all-round racer. Normally, racer who is strong in speed has weak climbing ability, typically Le Van Duan and Do Tuan Anh. On the contrary, Thanh Tam is strong in both speed and climbing.

Nguyen Thanh Tam shows his strong ability to climb mountains. Photo: TDA.

To have the comprehensive strength as today, Thanh Tam has been trained through the cycling environment of An Giang, where the cycling movement has developed strongly from the routes. Besides, he was called up to the national team and had many international tours to compete. Before the TV Cup started, Thanh Tam and the team toured at the Tour of Thailand and twice defeated famous Asian riders to win the stage.

Besides personal factors, Thanh Tam received active support from his teammates. The An Giang team recently spent a lot of money to bring in two big names in the Vietnamese cycling world, national athlete Trinh Duc Tam and "mountain king" Le Ngoc Son. On the race track, Duc Tam always protected and shielded him, and when reaching the finish line, he was the leader, "bait" for Thanh Tam to sprint. On the contrary, on the mountain passes, Ngoc Son supported Thanh Tam so that his teammates could win the title.

Thanh Tam’s growth shows a bright future for Vietnamese cycling. “When the bamboo is old, the young shoots grow”, that is obvious. While Thanh Tam is in his prime, names like Bui Minh Thuy (retired), Do Tuan Anh, Le Van Duan, Mai Nguyen Hung have shown signs of age. At times, the seniors still show superiority in some races, but overall, Thanh Tam is in the most stable form.

Thanh Tam (yellow shirt) surpassed two speed kings Le Van Duan (blue shirt) and Do Tuan Anh (left) at the finish line. Photo: Ton Dong A.

After the race around Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh), tomorrow the racers will conquer stage 12 from Binh Dinh to Phu Yen, a 120km long route.

According to VNE