Russia’s Nikita Shulchenko wins this year’s MPTC Tour of Luzon

France’s Antoine Huby is Eagle of the Mountain

BAGUIO CITY — Nikita Shulchenko of LCW UAE and Antoine Huby of 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike promised fireworks in the 14^th and final stage of the MPTC Tour of Luzon.

They didn’t disappoint.

The Russian and the Frenchman turned the killer Baguio lap into their own playground and battled with all their might before the former ended up doing just enough to emerge as the new champion of this annual race that was revived just a year ago.

But Mr. Shulchenko had to dig deep from his last reservoir of energy to parry Mr. Huby’s desperate but serious attempt to snatch the title away from him by taking the 169.9-kilometer (km) lap that unfurled in Lingayen, Pangasinan and ended before a boisterous crowd at Camp John Hay.

Mr. Huby checked in with a time of four hours, 26 minutes and 42 seconds while Mr. Shulchenko came in just 2:12 minutes after.

Ronnilan Quita, also of 7-Eleven, took third in the lap, 2:58 minutes adrift.

The Uzel, France native ended up as the undisputed king of the mountain while Mr. Shulchenko the king of the hill.

After 14 stages and a total distance of 1709.3 km covered that included long sprints and steep climbs under brutal conditions, Mr. Shulchenko was the unshakable force up front with an aggregate time of 41:11:10, 1:34 minutes atop Mr. Huby.

It was his second race win after ruling a 13-stage meet back home in Russia two years ago.

It was also a fitting gift for him personally as he would turn 27 on May 31.

“It’s a race for my team and for new experience, I’m happy to win,” said Mr. Shulchenko, who pocketed P1 million courtesy of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the Manuel V. Pangilinan Group of Companies and the Philippine Sports Commission.

After practically sticking with one another like leeches, Mr. Huby finally made his move out of the peloton right after the iconic Lion’s Head and while Mr. Shulchenko tried to stay close, the former finally broke loose in the last seven kilometers and never looked back.

Good thing Mr. Shulchenko didn’t let up and tried to minimize the damage.

Mr. Shulchenko admitted he got scared approaching the finish line.

“It was really dangerous, but I cut the gap,” he said.

But there was no shame for the Uzel, France native as he made up for his runner-up effort by taking the Eagle of the Mountain award as well as powering his squad to the team victory and the P2-million purse that went with it.

“I did my best to get the yellow jersey but his time lead was just too much,” said Mr. Huby, who will be best remembered for taming three of the most savage and beastly mountains in the race — Bessang Pass, Daang Kalikasan and Baguio.

“I’m sad because you always want to be the best for yourself. But I’m still happy, it was a good race,” he added.

Finishing third was LCW UAE’s Ibrahiem Alrefai, who was 6:45 minutes off the pace while MPTD’s Nash Lim, a 23-year-old national team standout and Southeast Asian Games veteran, wound up fourth or 9:13 minutes off and the best placed Filipino.

Rounding out the top 10 were Mr. Quita (41:21:44), Malaysia’s Muhammad Syawal Mazlin (41:22:11), 7-Eleven’s Mervin Corpuz (41:22:58), MPTD’s Rustom Lim (41:26:14), Seoul’s Jung Woo Ho (41:27:36) and Go for Gold’s Rench Michael Bondoc (41:27:51).

Mr. Huby will split the team prize with Mr. Quita, Mr. Corpuz, Jonel Carcueva, Jaypee Olarte, Jonty Harris, and Cormac McGeough Breffni.

7-Eleven had an overall clocking of 162:25:49, 18:27 ahead of Go for Gold and 19:39 over LCW UAE. — Joey Villar