Shulchenko pads lead heading into final stage

Nikita Shulchenco of LCW UAECycling Team in action during the Tour of Luzon. –HANDOUT PHOTO

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Barring a massive disaster, Nikita Shulchenko has the MPTC Tour of Luzon title in the bag.

The Russian rider finished second in the individual time trial on Tuesday, the summer cycling spectacle’s penultimate stage, and built a four-minute cushion against French cyclist Antoine Huby

“It’s great for me,” said Shulchenko after crossing the finish in 26 minutes and one second amid the scorching heat and windy conditions at Lingayen Baywalk. South Korean ace Min Kyeong-ho beat him by 22 seconds.

Shulchenko crossed the finish in 26 minutes and one second amid the scorching heat and windy conditions at Lingayen Baywalk.

Min ruled the race-against-time format, but that meant little to the LCW UAE Cycle top rider, who built himself a buffer heading into the killer final stage from here to Baguio via Kennon Road, which will feature a climb that is more suitable to Huby’s talents.

Biggest threat

Huby was tagged as a potential challenger for Shulchenko, with mountain stages affording several opportunities to eat up time deficits, but he could not keep pace during the time trial, finishing at 27:21—1:42 behind Min and 1:20 slower than Shulchenko.

Shulchenko now has an aggregate time of 36:42:22, ahead of the 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines ace by 3:50.

Huby emerged as the biggest threat to Shulchenko’s hold on the yellow jersey when he conquered the difficult climb towards Daang Kalikasan in Mangatarem the previous day to move within 2:30 of the Russian.

But a poor finish in the time trial by Huby turned Wednesday’s final stage into a virtual coronation lap for Shulchenko and not the “Battle Royale” that 7-Eleven team manager Ric Rodriguez billed it to be during the Tour’s rest day in Pagudpud last week.

Huby had beaten Shulchenko in the tough climbs, including the unforgiving Stage 10 at Bessang Pass in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, which could have made the final stage more dramatic had the 25-year-old slashed the deficit even more or even just kept pace.

“It’s a nice gap for me, but there’s no reason for me to relax,” Shulchenko said.

The Russian rider has donned the symbolic jersey since Stage 3, and will look to secure the P1 million top prize for the best individual rider of the Tour—which would make a fitting early birthday present.

Shulchenko will turn 27 on May 31.

His LCW teammate, Ibrahiem Alrefai, is third in the general classification (5:37 behind), while MPT DriveHub’s Nash Lim moved into fourth (8:05 behind) and is now the best Filipino rider.

Fan favorite Mervin Corpuz of 7-Eleven is fifth (+8:54), with Malaysia national team’s Muhammad Mazlin (+9:26) in sixth and 7-Eleven’s Ronnilan Quita (+9:46) seventh.

Rounding out the top 10 are MPT’s Rustom Lim (+12:19), Seoul’s Jung Woo-ho (+13:30) and Go for Gold Philippines’ Rench Michael Bondoc (+13:54).