Barnachea floated with the field in the 75km criterium race around the Marikina City Hall and sport complex, and safely reached the end of the 1,219.4-km Tour, raising his arms at the finish for his breakthrough victory in the annual summer spectacle.
To the proud son of Umingan, Pangasinan, who’s a national rider and Navyman, belonged the coveted Padyak Pinoy 2006 crown, carving his own special place in Tour history, next to the likes of Cornelio Padilla, Jose Sumalde and Antonio Arzala.
He completed his own version of Tour double although his first title was a minor one — the four-stage Calabarzon Tour in 2002.
He was the first to admit that he couldn’t be ranked with the likes of old heroes Renato Dolosa and Carlo Guieb but the win would fuel a new start to his cycling career.
"I’m just starting to get a real good appetite for racing. As you noticed, I was always in front of the pack in this tour," said Barnachea, 30, in Filipino.
"The past few years, I was not too eager to compete. I would be happy just to finish in the Top 10," added Barnachea, now inspired by live-in partner Michelle and two-year-old son Darren. Santy and Michelle plan to tie the knot next month.
A promising tour rookie in 1997, Barnachea had forgettable finishes in succeeding years after his 2002 Calabarzon Tour triumph. "I didn’t have good preparations then due to personal problems," said Barnachea, who was 16th placer in 2003, ninth in 2004 and 17th last year.
Getting all the needed support this time, Barnachea got off to a strong start and fashioned the decisive win after enjoying the overall individual leadership from the third stage to the finish.
Barnachea became the first rider to reign supreme without a single stage win since the tour revival in 2003. Gonzalo Recodos (1963), Paquito Rivas (1979) and Renato Dolosa, in his first championship in 1992, were among those remembered by tour experts to have done the feat.
Barnachea admitted the absence of several other top cyclists, including 2004 titlist Rhyan Tanguilig, 1996 winner Victor Espiritu and former national riders Lloyd Reynante and Merculio Ramos, made his conquest easier.
"It became easier for us national riders to dominate the event in the absence of the former trade riders who are really tough," said Barnachea.
Fellow national riders Frederick Feliciano and Ericson Obosa provided Barnachea the toughest challenge, finishing second and third in the compact eight-stage Tour presented by Tanduay Rhum and organized by Dynamic Outsource Solutions Inc. in cooperation with Wow Magic Sing.
Joel Calderon, a former trade campaigner, gate-crashed the party of the RP riders by topping the Marikina criterium race which became his springboard to barge into the Magic 10.
Irish Valenzuela, a 19-year-old member of the Philippine juniors squad, won the Rookie of the Year honors by finishing fourth overall, followed by deposed titlist Warren Davadilla, Tomas Martinez, Renato Sembrano, Arnel Quirimit, King of the Mountain winner John Ricafort and Calderon.
Harvey Sicam, running ninth after the penultimate stage, bombed out of the Magic 10 as he failed to finish the closing stage — obviously due to unfamiliarity with track races.
Barnachea emerged top earner with the P75,000 champion’s purse plus his share from Sunbolt’s P225,000 prize as fourth placer in the team competition. He also went home with P15,000 for wearing the yellow jersey for six days, P10,000 for three podium finishes plus a CSK full carbon frame and fork worth P130,000 as champion’s special prize.
Ricafort earned P20,000 plus an A-KAI aluminum frame and fork worth P65,000 for winning the King of the Mountain plum, P5,000 for ruling the Tagaytay-Tagaytay run plus his share from Elixir Sports’ P400,000 prize for placing second in team event.
National riders stamped their class in the event with Obosa and Quirimit winning two stages each, and Feliciano, Ricafort and Reinhard Gorantes one apiece.
The new champion negotiated the 1,219.4km race that passed through 11 Luzon provinces in 31 hours, 10 minutes and three seconds for a winning margin of three minutes and 58 seconds over the second placer.