LABRADOR, Pangasinan — South Korean Joo Dae Young of Gapyeong Cycling Team struck with a podium finish in the 15.2-kilometer Stage Seven individual time trial ahead of the dreaded Baguio ascent of the MPTC Tour of Luzon: Great Revival on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old two-time Korean national champion clocked 18 minutes and three seconds in finishing second behind eventual stage winner Joseph Javiniar of Excellent Noodles, who clocked an impressive 17:25.
“Tuesday, I’m getting more time. Wednesday, I don’t think so,” said Mr. Joo moments after his second podium finish in the short but sweet lap that started in Lingayen and ended in front of the municipal hall here.
Metro Pacific Tollways Drivehub’s Mervin Corpuz was third with an 18:17 time.
The effort earned Mr. Joo precious seconds to his lead and now owns a total aggregate time of 17:59:37, or 2.10 minutes ahead of his closest pursuer Mr. Corpuz (18:01:47).
Victoria Sports’ Nichol Pajera jumped from seventh to third after ending up fourth in Stage Seven and has 18:02:42 while Standard Insurance’s Jan Paul Morales (18:02:46) and Jeremy Lizardo (18:02:51), MPTD’s Jonel Carcueva (18:03:13), Go for Gold’s Jerico Jay Lucero (18:03:40), Exodus Army’s Mar Francis Sudario (18:03:57), 7-Eleven’s Rench Michael Bondoc (18:03:57) and Standard’s Ronald Oranza (18:04:35) rounded out the top 10.
After seven grueling but relatively flat stages in the MPTC Tour of Luzon: Great Revival, everything will now boil down to this one final stage that could make or break dreams.
And Mr. Joo, who will wear the yellow jersey again, knows the 177.54-kilometer Stage Eight from Lingayen to the feared mountain passes of Baguio would be far from easy.
Mr. Joo also has one dilemma entering Baguio — he will have to defend his lead with a lone teammate standing in Jang Jun Hyeok after the rest of his squad fell like dominoes due to various reasons.
“My team is just two, me and one person. But we’ll keep going,” he said.
Mr. Corpuz, a 27-year-old nephew of multi-awarded Santy Barnachea, for his part, said he’s ready to take on the challenge.
“I’m 100-percent ready,” he said.
But don’t mistake Stage Eight as a Joo-Corpuz show as practically everybody trailing by mere 10 minutes or less have a legitimate shot of claiming the one crown all cyclists crave — the Tour title.
“It’s still anybody’s race,” said Commissaire1 Jun Lomibao.
That’s the reason Mr. Barnachea, MPTD’s director a winner of two Tour crowns and two Ronda titles, gave Mr. Corpuz and his team one marching order — attack in the start of the ascent.
“I just told the boys to make the move and attack at will when they see the mountains,” he said.
Like the individual race, the over team race is far from settled as Standard Insurance continued to cling at No. 1 with a 71:01:14, or just 32 ticks ahead of MPTD (71:01:46).
So expect nothing less than an epic ending in this 1,074-kilometer, eight-stage race staking P1 million each to the individual and team champions. — Joey Villar
