Guevarra, Road Bike/7-11 rule Tour of Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - New tour king Mark Guevarra towed his Road Bike/7-Eleven team to a triumphant finish in the team time trial to complete a twin victory in the Liquigaz-LPGMA Tour of Luzon on Macapagal Avenue in Pasay yesterday.

Guevarra, 23, was officially crowned the 2009 Tour champion at the close of the seven-day revival of the tour, which featured 900 kilometers of flat roads and punishing climbs.

“I still couldn’t believe I won. It was really unexpected,” said Guevarra, cheered on by his mother Eleanor and younger brother Alexander Jr.

The Bagong Silang, Caloocan native wrapped up the overall individual crown as early as Saturday in Baguio after finishing sixth place in the stage won by Batang Tagaytay’s Baler Ravina in one of the biggest surprises in the history of the cycling event.

Guevarra pocketed the top individual purse worth P50,000 plus a share in the P500,000 prize in the team event which Road Bike/7-Eleven dominated.

Road Bike/7-Eleven capped its weeklong dominance of the event by ruling the 60km team time trial in 7:02:15.156, besting Liquigaz (7:07.29.656) and American Vinyl (7:08:00.756).

The final stage result gave Road Bike/7-Eleven a final time of 109:23:26.973, or 52:49.543 minutes ahead of runner-up Batang Tagaytay.

Rounding up the top 10 were Liquigaz (1:00:21.820 behind), American Vinyl (1:34:39.940), Geo State/The Beacon (1:47:20.762), Mobile Wonder/Magic Prints (2:35:12.684), My Photos (2:42:49.192), Newton/Regasco Group (2:42:49.767), DPT Law (3:29:51.541) and Happy Nuts (4:26:24.701).

The second to 10th placers in the team race took home P300,000, P200,000, P150,000, P100,000, P85,000, P75,000, P70,000, P60,000 and P50,000, respectively.

Guevarra’s teammates who also finished in the Top 10 in the individual race were Joseph Millanes, Stage One winner Tomas Martinez and skipper Dante Cagas.

Guevarra had an aggregate time of 25:29:44 while Millanes, Martinez and Cagas finished fifth, eighth and 10th.

Sherwin Diamsay, who placed 13th overall, won the Tour’s sprint king honors with 16 points, besting King of the Mountain Ravina(12) and former leader American Vinyl captain Lloyd Lucien Reynante (7).

The other members of Road Bike/7-Eleven were Rolando Gorrantes, Marwin Mandi, Robert Cumlat and Romeo Millanes.