Shulchenko is tour champ

French takes stage, Russian takes crown

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Nikita Shulchenko of LCW UAE and Antoine Huby of 7-Eleven promised fireworks in the 14th and final stage of the MPTC Tour of Luzon.

They delivered.

The Russian and the Frenchman turned the killer Baguio lap into their personal duel and battled with all their might – the drama ending with Shulchenko being crowned the tour champ.

But Shulchenko had to dig deep to fend off Huby’s late all-out attempt to snatch the title by taking the 169.9-kilometer lap that started in Lingayen, Pangasinan and ended before a boisterous crowd at Camp John Hay here.

Huby checked in with a time of four hours, 26 minutes and 42 seconds while Shulchenko came in 2.12 minutes after.

Ronnilan Quita, also of 7-Eleven, took third, 2:58 minutes adrift.

The Uzel, France native ended up as the undisputed king of the mountain while Shulchenko the king of the hill.

After 14 stages covering a total distance of 1709.3 kilometers that included long sprints and steep climbs under brutal conditions, Shulchenko was the unshakeable force up front with an aggregate time of 41:11:10, 1:34 minutes atop Huby.

It was his second race win after ruling a 13-stage meet back home in Russia two years ago – a fitting gift for his birthday on May 31.

“It’s a race for my team and for new experience, I’m happy to win,” said Shulchenko, who pocketed P1 million courtesy of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the Manny V. Pangilinan Group of Companies and the Philippine Sports Commission.

After sticking with one another like leeches, Huby made his move out of the peloton right after the iconic Lion’s Head. Shulchenko tried to stay close, but Huby broke loose in the last seven kilometers on the way to a solo finish.

But Shulchenko didn’t let up, minimized the damage and preserved the overall lead.

Shulchenko admitted he got scared approaching the finish line. “It was really dangerous, but I cut the gap,” he said.

But there’s no regret for Huby, who took the Eagle of the Mountain award as well as his share in 7-Eleven’s win in the team championship worth P2 million.

“I did my best to get the yellow jersey but his time lead was just too much,” said Huby, who will be best remembered for taming three beastly mountains – Bessang Pass, Daang Kalikasan and Baguio.

“I’m sad because you always want to be the best for yourself. But I’m still happy, it was a good race,” he added.

Finishing third was LCW UAE’s Ibrahiem Alfrefai, who was 6:45 minutes off the pace, followed by MPTD’s Nash Lim, a 23-year-old national team standout and Southeast Asian Games veteran, who ended up as the best-placed Filipino rider.