Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Thanh Binh (on the right) giving an award to racer Loic Desriac from Dong Nai Bike Life – the yellow jersey holder for the last 10 stages
Prior to the kick-off time, the organizers and the sponsor of the race awarded VND 370 million, of which VND 200 million was donated to the Nguyen Chi Thanh Talent Promotion Scholarship Fund, VND 100 million to Hue Education Fund, and VND 70 million to 70 studious students from difficult background in the province.
After the guiding round, hardly had the referee raised the flag to signal that the 1st round officially kicked off when the racers accelerated the speed. At the same time, the racing teams adopted the same tactic, that is, taking a grip on each other while striving to make way for as many of their teammates to move forward as possible.
At this stage, with the view to ‘stealing’ the yellow jersey from Dong Nai Bike Life, racers from Ho Chi Minh City-Vinama, Ho Chi Minh City-New Group, Can Tho, 620 Chau Thoi - Vinh Long, Binh Minh - Binh Duong Plastic, etc., continuously besieged the cyclists from the Southeast region representative.
Right at the beginning of the 2nd round, the racers split into 2 groups. The leading group with 6 racers continued to maintain a fairly high speed to drop the chasing group, while at the same time keeping an eye on each other to avoid letting their rivals break through.
In the last 2 rounds, however, with his smart strategy of properly distributing stamina and choosing the right moment when the opponents "let loose" their legs after launching an attack, racer Nguyen Truc Sinh from Ho Chi Minh City - New Group escaped from the fierce grip in the leading group to make a strong sprint. This helped to create a gap of more than 10 seconds compared to his opponent in the last round, which enabled him to leisurely finish at first place without encountering any grip in the 11th stage of Truong Tien - Phu Xuan (20 rounds with a distance of 42km).
Continuing the journey of “The whole country in a strip”, the race team will depart for the 12th stage of Hue - Da Nang with a 100km roadmap from the Provincial Center of Culture and Cinema on the morning of April 18th. This is one of the toughest stages when racers have to conquer 3 passes, namely Phuoc Tuong, Phu Gia and especially Hai Van.
Some images recorded at the race:
Singer Dam Vinh Hung performing songs about Hue prior to the opening time
The sponsor donating VND 200 million to the Nguyen Chi Thanh Talent Promotion Scholarship Fund
Awarding scholarships to studious students of the province
Kick-off
A large number of spectators coming to watch and cheer for the race
Right at the beginning of the 2nd round, the racers split and deployed fairly fierce attacks
In the chasing group, the racers riding at moderate speed while always taking a grip on each other
Crossing Tran Hung Dao street
Crossing Thuong Bac Park - one of the famous places of Hue on this street
Phu Xuan Bridge diverged and carefully guarded by functional forces to ensure safety
The joy of Nguyen Truc Sinh – the racer finishing at first place in the 11th stage of Truong Tien - Phu Xuan
The motorcycle escort waving goodbye to Hue fans at the end of the race
By Han Dang