PHNOM PENH—Shagne Yaoyao is the best-ranked among Philippine riders in cycling at the 32nd Southeast Games which kick off on Saturday morning with the women’s crosscountry Olympic event of mountain bike in Siem Reap.
Venue is the Kulen Mountain within the vicinity of the world-famous Angkor Wat, the same track which the men will tackle later in the day.
Yaoyao is No. 4 here with her International Cycling Union ranking of 196, a rung higher than Ariana Evangelista (UCI No. 210) and Nicole Quinones (UCI No. 416) seeded 12th among 18 riders entered.
Indonesia’s Sayu Belma Sukya Dewi and Dela Anuar Wulan are the top two seeds in the women’s XCO race which starts at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. in Manila).
Men’s action follows at 10:30 a.m. here with Edhmel John Rivera Flores leading the country’s charge as the sixth-ranked rider in the 20-athlete field.
Mark Loowel Valderama is ranked eighth and Jerico Rivera 11th in the event that Zaenal Fenani of Indonesia and Riyadh Hakim Bin of Singapore are expected to rule as 1-2 seeds.
“Our athletes have gotten a feel of the track and hopefully, we get to do better from last year’s races in Vietnam,” MTB head coach Eboy Quinones said.
Cruz clinched a bronze medal in MTB’s downhill last year—along with Naomi Gardoce in the women’s event—but had to race in XCO this year after Cambodia scrapped the event this edition.
To be contested also in MTB on Sunday XCO mixed relay and on Monday, it will be the XCO eliminator.
Road races of cycling starts with criterium races on May 11, followed by individual time trial on May 12 and road races on May 13.