RP cyclist gets gold medal, while everyone's getting into bed

No one saw it coming, except the coaching staff and the rest of Team Cycling Philippines, because the Philippines won its last gold for Monday (December 10) when almost everybody else was getting ready for bed. Victor Espiritu had to nervously wait for almost an hour for the official announcement that he had clinched the gold medal in the men's 40-kilometer points race in track cycling, according to a report issued on Tuesday night by the Philippine Cycling Federation (PhilCycling). That's because Thai cycling officials profusely questioned and meticulously reviewed and scrutinized the result of perhaps the most complicated cycling event – road, track, and mountain bike combined. So when the stadium barker made the announcement in English that he had won the gold, beating two Thais, one of them Prajak Mahawong, the winner of road's individual time trial, Espiritu could only blurt oiut: "Waaahooooooh!" PhilCycling president Bert Lina, who was there with wife Sylvia, could only sigh in relief. "Muntik na," he said, referring to what might have been a lost gold had the commissaires' panel yielded to Thai pressure. Espiritu earned the gold by garnering 88 points. Mohawang settled for silver with 83 points and another rider from the host team, Thanawat Somna, bagged bronze with 74 points. It was a sweet moment for Espiritu because it took 10 years for him to earn his second SEA Games gold medal. And he achieved it through a brilliant strategy cooked up by the coaching staff. "Totoo pala ang kasabihan na winning the second time is sweeter than the first time," said the 33-year-old Espiritu, this year's Padyak Pinoy champion. Espiritu won a belated gold medal in the men's ITT in 1997 in Jakarta. He was second in the race, but Indonesian Tonton Susanto, who is also still racing in this edition of the biennial event, tested positive for banned substances. The Navotas resident – he used to live in Malabon – earned a controversial silver medal in the 2003 Vietnam Games. He missed the 2005 Manila edition because he was barred from competing by his professional team. "Ang tagal kong hinintay to," said Espiritu. And last Monday he did a lot of waiting. He also had to endure for an hour and a half in the 120-lap race where a rider earns points – 5, 3, 2 and 1 – for each sprint and gets bonuses for overlapping a rider or riders and for topping the final sprint, which is worth 20 points. The points race is the most unrelenting as all riders have to race at top speed all the time to avoid being overlapped. Espiritu, in fact, was not supposed to compete in the points race. He was entered in the team pursuit, but head coach Jomel Lorenzo, a bemedaled track rider himself, thought otherwise. "The coaching staff felt Victor had the better chance in the points race because of Steve (Pelaez) and Ronald (Gorantes). The points race is the specialty of Steve and Ronald," said Lorenzo. Pelaez, who is credited for the team's battle cry, and Gorantes ably backed Espiritu. They finished ninth and 12th, respectively. "That precisely was the plan, for them to back each other," said Lorenzo. The Thai fans were so disappointed at their bets' loss that they left His Majesty The King's 80th Birthday Anniversary Velodrome during the awards ceremonies. Only a handful of a handful of Filipinos from a local association in Thailand stayed behind to applaud Espiritu. - GMANews.TV