HTV Cup: TP Ho Chi Minh win team time trial

As many predicted, the TP Ho Chi Minh team won the team time trial stage of the 32nd HTV Cup (opens in new tab).

Their superiority enabled Nguyen Truong Tai, third overall prior to stage 13 in Nha Trang, to dethrone Nguyen Tan Hoai, who has led the race for eleven of the twelve stages. His Domesco team finished third at 57 seconds while Bikelife Dong Nai clocked the second time at 53 seconds.

"I want to say a big thank you to my team for this fantastic effort," Nguyen Truong Tai declared.

"From stage 1, we’ve often been unlucky. We’ve had several crashes but we put on our strongest performance today in what was the most important stage for the overall classification. Now I will try to retain the yellow jersey until the end."

The team time trial covered a rolling 32km course along the seaside in Nha Trang, with the wind blowing from the south but much less than in the previous editions of the race.

32-year-old Nguyen Truong Tai is already a double winner of the HTV Cup, having won the race in 2015 and 2016, also thanks to a strong team time trial performance with TP Ho Chi Minh, the team he joined five years ago from Domesco.

With three riders now at the top of the overall standings - Nguyen Truong Tai, Nguyen Thang and defending champion Javier Sardá Perez from Spain - TP Ho Chi Minh have a strong chance of keeping the yellow jersey until the end of the HTV Cup. 

Six stages remain, including stage 15 to Da Lat, which is considered the queen stage.