CHUN’AN. – Shagne Paula Yaoyao finished eighth and Arian Evangelista fell two laps behind in the women’s cross-country Olympic race of cycling’s mountain bike in the 19th Asian Games on Monday.
“They’re like robots,” was Yaoyao’s reaction to China’s Li Hongfeng and Ma Caixia, who won the gold and silver, respectively, finishing the technical race still looking fresh and ready for more while the rest were simply spent.
Li won in one hour, 30 minutes and 59 seconds to improve on the silver she clinched in Indonesia five years ago, while Ma crossed six minutes for the silver but with a six-minute gap ahead of bronze medalist Faranak Partoazar of Iran.
Yaoyao wound up seventh in the 15-rider field with a 26-minute gap behind Li.
“But I’m happy with my result, I really did my best here and I didn’t expect to land in the top 10,” said Yaoyao, a bronze medalist in MTB’s mixed relay in the Cambodia SES Games last May.
She competed in the UCI world championships along with Evangelista last month in Scotland and raced in her first Asian Games.
“I can’t hardly believe how tough and strong the Chinese were,” said PhilCycling secretary-general Atty. Billy Sumagui. “While the others were visibly exhausted and drained, the Chinese looked like they could go several more laps.”
For Evangelista, it was tough luck–her front tire had reduced pressure and her rear was super flat. She had to run her bike two kilometers to the feed zone to have both replaced, losing two laps in the event raced over a 4.8-km loop.
