LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The king of the longest route emerged as the ruler of the shortest race distance that is the MPTC Tour of Luzon Stage 13 Tuesday along the Lingayen Baywalk here.
South Korean Min Kyeong Ho of the Seoul Cycling Team zoomed to the fastest time in the 20-kilometer individual time trial (ITT), clocking 25:39 in the penultimate leg of the 14-stage race.
A sprint and short distance specialist, Min bounced back after finishing third in the Tour’s first ITT (22.9 km) that was the Stage 7 in Pagudpud last Tuesday.
The day before, Min ruled the 223.7 km Stage 6 from Tuguegarao to Pagudpud, conquering the Tour’s longest route.
“Actually, I didn’t expect to win Stage 6 and it surprised me. Today, I really expect myself to win the stage so I enjoy the statement (win) more,” said Min.
“In Stage 7 I was a little tired because I had a long breakaway the day before but this morning I fell more fresh and good. I got all the confidence and determination to get the stage win.”
Yellow jersey-bearer Russian Nikita Sulchenko of the LCW UAE Cycle finished second to Min with 26:01 (+22) and Joseph Javeniar of Excellent Noodles emerged as the fastest local with 26:09 (+30) to complete the stage’s podium finishers.
Sulchenko out to defend yellow jersey
Entering the final leg featuring a climb from Lingayen to Baguio City on Wednesday, Sulchenko brought with him a healthy 3:50 gap from second placer French Antoine Huby in the individual general classification which he leads with an aggregate of 36:46:22.
After his Stage 12 conquest, Huby slashed Sulchenko’s lead from 3:54 to 2:30 but the Russian practically negated that with a second place finish in Stage 13.
Sulchenko’s time is 1:20 faster than Huby who clocked 27:21.
Running third overall is Sulchenko’s Syrian teammate Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai (+5:37).
Nash Joshua Lim of the MPT Drive Hub is fourth and the top local bet for a podium finish, being 2:28 behind Alrefai and 8:05 behind Sulchenko.
Meanwhile, local teams are on track to fill the podium places of the Tour with 7Eleven leading the pack with a total of 144:25:51.
Go for Gold is 5:00 behind and Standard Insurance Philippines is third being 17:35.
