Duhaylungsod took advantage of the tough stiff battle by almost all riders in the final leg, including the non-title contenders, to defeat erstwhile leader Dr. Jose Vicente "JV" Araneta.
Araneta, columnist of The Freeman, could already smell victory, but was caught by surprise by the kind of action they had in the final outing for the October plum.
"It was so close I could smell it, but in the end the opposition was just too strong and too young. Only five had a mathematical chance of winning the RCM but nobody would give an inch to anyone, those with points or none," Araneta said.
Duhaylungsod was able to escape from the pack of pursuers and trailed last leg winner Haylin Bardaje to win the overall title with a total of 74 points.
Araneta ended his quest at second with 65 points.
Darwin Limbaga was just a point away from Araneta to come up third overall.
"Even if I lost, it was still a fantastic opportunity to be able to defend your lead in a 'stage race'. Normally, I wouldn't have been able to finish that race with the kind of speed we were doing but I had to dig deep not only to hang on but to win and I just came up short!" Araneta said.