Joo looks to complete Tour of Luzon conquest

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Seven stages down, one more to go.

South Korean cyclist Joo Dae Yeong of Gapyeong Cycling Team looks to complete his conquest of the Tour of Luzon individual general classification which enters its final lap, the Lingayen to Baguio route, on Thursday.

The competition, which carries "The Great Revival" theme, goes uphill from Barangay Quibaul in Lingayen, Pangasinan to Scout Hill inside Camp John Hay in Baguio City, covering a distance of 172.53 kilometers (km).

Joo's climbing game is set to get tested, but fortunately, he has a two-minute and 10-second gap against closest pursuer Mervin Corpuz of MPT Drivehub and 3:05 from the third-running Nichol Pareja of the Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team.

"My strategy is to just keep going," said Joo when asked about what's going to be his strategy in the eighth and final stage of the race.

Joo served notice when he topped the opening stage, the Paoay to Paoay route last Thursday, with more than a four-minute time gap.

Corpuz cut it down to just 1:56 after Stage 6, the Clark to Lingayen route, but Joo added 14 seconds to it after the Stage 7 individual time trial from Lingayen to Labrador.

Joo, who has worn the yellow jersey since after the opening stage, clocked 18:03 to finish second in the said route while Corpuz ranked third with 18:17.

Joseph Javiniar of Excellent Noodles ruled the 15.2-km race with 17:25, claiming his second stage win to follow his Stage 5 Clark to Clark victory last Monday.

"Today, my team is just made of two people, me and one person. Today we're going for the [fastest] time [we could]. Losing now at second but hopefully I get to win tomorrow," said Joo.

Home bets are surely coming for Joo, especially Corpuz, who expressed confidence that he has a realistic shot of overtaking the South Korean.

"I can really take him on in a neck and neck battle," said Corpuz, who hails from Umingan, Pangasinan.

"I'm observing how he moves, and as I said if a machine can overheat, then a human can, too [he can slip, too]."

Meanwhile, Standard Insurance Philippines, like Joo, looks to complete its conquest of the team general classification as it enters the final stage leading the pack with a combined time of 71:01:14.

MPT Drivehub is second and 32 seconds behind while Go for Gold is third and 55 seconds behind the leader.