A Spanish cyclist won the third stage of a national race in Vietnam, conquering 42km around Lang Son City, the capital of the namesake northern Vietnamese province, on Tuesday.

Javier Perez, a rider racing for Ho Chi Minh City-Vinama and the defending champion, beat out rivals Le Nguyet Minh of Ho Chi Minh City-New Group and Nguyen Tan Hoai of Duoc Domesco Dong Thap, to secure a victory in the stage.

The 42km stage took place over 25 laps, 1.7km each, that troubled participating cyclists with narrow turns forcing several riders off their bikes. 

Despite the difficulty of the course, racers maintained breakneck speed and staged several breakthrough attacks.

About 10km to the finish line, Pham Quoc Cuong of Duoc Domesco Dong Thap broke away from the pack with an impressive sprint. 

But Cuong’s efforts fell short as Perez and some other cyclists caught up toward the finish, with the Spaniard pulling ahead of Cuong and Minh to cross the finish line in first place.

Perez’s performance in the stage awarded him a time advantage of ten seconds before stage four.

Minh came in second while Perez’s two teammates, Nguyen Duong Ho Vu and Nguyen Truong Tai, finished in third and fourth.

After the first three rounds of the tourney, Minh is still ahead in terms of round wins.

About 100 cyclists from 15 competing teams were scheduled to race for 143km in their fourth leg of the race, from Lang Son City to Hanoi on Friday.

The HTV Cup tourney has been held annually since 1989 and is considered Vietnam’s ‘Tour de France.’

In its 33rd edition, the competition takes cyclists from north to south in celebration of Vietnam’s reunification on April 30, 1975.

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