LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Mervin Corpuz showcased his strong cycling pedigree on Tuesday by making sure the host country would be right in the thick of the battle for individual supremacy with two stages remaining in the Tour of Luzon.
Corpuz, 27, placed second behind Muhammad Zahin Wahhi of Malaysia, who topped the 174.5-kilometer Stage 6 and moved closer to overall individual leader Joo Daeyoung of South Korea.
Wahhi was first in the finish line with a clocking of three hours, 31 minutes and 12 seconds but Corpuz and ten others also posted the same time with the eight-stage race about to enter the most pivotal phase of the revived bikefest.
Third was Rench Michael Bondoc of 7Eleven but Corpuz’s runner-up finish was the day’s biggest development as the nephew of four-time winner Santy Barnachea trimmed Joo’s advantage to just under two minutes.
Previously, Joo, the winner of the opening stage in Paoay in Ilocos Norte, was ahead by four and a half minutes.
Representing MPT Drivehub, Corpuz, 27, a native of Umingan town here in the cycling hotbed of Pangasinan province, feels he is doing good in figuring out the Korean’s game plan after coming in close to three minutes behind the mass finish.
“I have been studying his moves,” Corpuz told a bunch of sweaty scribes under the tent at Maramba Boulevard, just a short walk from this historic city’s famed baywalk.
Corpuz believes Joo is starting to melt away.
“If machines can overheat, what more with people?”
Corpuz was a member of a seven-rider chase group that breezed past an eight-rider lead pack in San Jose town in Tarlac following the stage’s start at Clark Field in Pampanga.
“If I get lucky, I would love to win the title,” who previously was a member of two cycling teams before finally deciding to hook up with his celebrated uncle.
Wednesday’s Lingayen to nearby Labrador town is a 15-2-kilometer team trial while Stage 8 will be the long-awaited 177-54-kilometer push to Baguio City on Thursday from here.
But Corpuz swears he’s all pumped up and raring to put on a show in the last two legs, admitting, however, that it would be hard given the enormous task of reaching the City of Pines in one piece.
“The Baguio leg will be the toughest of them all and that’s where everything will be settled.”
In the team general classification, Standard Insurance is on top followed by MPT Drivehub at second and Go For Gold at third. Fourth is 7Eleven and fifth is Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team featuring back-to-back stage winner Ean Cajucom.
The top team will win P1 million while the individual champion will also be getting the same amount following the decision of tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan to beef up the purse from his own money.
Organized by Duckworld Ph and staged by Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation of Pangilinan, this year’s Tour was revived after a five-year absence due to Covid pandemic.