MPTC Tour of Luzon: Great Revival
CLARK, PAMPANGA — Ean Cajucom is riding his bike as if it’s the outer space of his astronaut dreams.
The 22-year-old Victoria Cycling’s fast-rising star is conquering the MPTC Tour of Luzon: Great Revival as if it’s his universe after claiming his second stage victory — a windy and rolling 168.76-kilometer (km) Stage Four that started in Agoo, La Union and ended here on Sunday.
“If I had become an astronaut, I wouldn’t have won here,” said Mr. Cajucom, who, for the second straight day, emerged victorious in another frantic mass finish.
Mervin Corpuz of MPT Drivehub, a nephew of former Tour champion Santy Barnachea who happens to also be their team director, took second while Aidan James Mendoza of Go for Gold was third with identical times of three hours, 32 minutes and 45 seconds.
Part of that 101-rider peloton was South Korean Joo Dae Young of Gapyeong Cycling Team, who will continue to wear the yellow or leader’s jersey in Monday’s hilly 160.6-km Stage Five that will start here, make a U-turn in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac and end here.
It was another spectacular effort for Mr. Cajucom, whose elder brother John Mark Camingao is a Tour veteran, after he also reigned supreme in the Vigan-San Juan Stage Four the day before.
Mr. Cajucom later credited his supernova performance to Victoria’s European training and races last year.
“Our European training really helped. We were given a great training program as well as proper nutrition, it was really a big factor for us,” he said after receiving heaps of praise from their team director and former Tour king Joshua Cariño.
Now on its halfway mark, Mr. Joo was still on top in the 1,074-km, eight-stage race with a total clocking of 10:37:12 while Standard Insurance’s Ronald Oranza remained at No. 2 with a 10:41:42 time, or four and a half minutes behind.
Rounding out the top 10 in the overall general classification race were Mr. Mendoza (10:41:48), Exodus Army’s Dominic Perez (10:41:55), Mr. Corpuz (10:41:56), Standard’s George Oconer (10:41:58), MPTD’s Rustom Lim (10:42:06), Standard’s Jan Paul Morales (10:42:33), Malaysia’s Mohammad Faiz Fakhri (10:42:39) and MPTD’s Junreck Carcueva (10:42:40).
Because of his recent feat, Mr. Cajucom zoomed to 12th with a total time of 10:42:45 from 32nd the day before.
In the team race, Standard Insurance still led the way with an overall aggregate of 42:49:24, or 19 seconds ahead of MPT Drivehub in 42:49:43.
Completing the team top 10 were Exodus Army (42:50:37), Go for Gold (42:50:38), Malaysia Pro Cycling (42:51:01), 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines (42:51:11), DReyna Orion Cement (42:51:42), Bryton Racing Team (42:52:38), Dandex T-Prime (42:52:44) and Victoria Sports (42:52:49).
But the Navy Men received bad news when Junrey Navarra, their best climber, was ruled out the rest of the way due to an ankle sprain he sustained during a 14-rider spill in Stage Three. — Joey Villar