Gong Hyp Suk (front) of the Seoul team won the yellow and red jerseys for the shortest time and the best hill climbing in the 21 st HCMC Television Cycling Cup

The Seoul team took the yellow jersey, red jersey and the team trophy for the 21st HCMC Television Cycling Cup, which ended Thursday.

Saigon 1 and An Giang finished second and third in the team category, and 16-year-old Tran Van Quyen of the Seventh Military Zone team scored the Best Young Athlete title.

“The Korean cyclists are superior to us. There’s a long way to go before we can catch up with them,” said Mai Cong Hieu of the Domesco Dong Thap team.

Others have a different view and say the Vietnamese teams were only interested in outdoing each other and did nothing to peg back the Koreans.

“Admittedly, the Korean squad was strong, but if the Vietnamese cyclists had supported each other more, the Korean cyclists would not have been so dominant,” national men’s team coach Tran Van Quyt said afterwards.

Tomorrow sees the start of another race, the Back to Dien Bien Phu 2009 tour, with cyclists from Mongolia and Malaysia among the field. Some wonder if the Vietnamese cyclists have realized their mistakes.

Reported by Quang Huy