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CLARK FIELD – Victor Espiritu of Wow Magic Sing kept his closest pursuers under check from the cold, rainy Baguio City to this humid former US military base to virtually clinch his second Tour title in the protest-marred penultimate stage of the 2007 Padyak Pinoy Summer Showdown yesterday.

Espiritu floated along with the 74-man peloton, including chief rivals Baler Ravina of Cool Pap and Irish Valenzuela of Cossack Vodka, that finished a little over two and a half minutes behind ninth lap winner Jose Calderon of Caltex.

That effort kept the 1996 rookie Tour champion’s 29-second lead over Ravina intact, making today’s 90-km criterium race at the Rajah Sulaiman Park in Manila a virtual victory ride in the 11-day, 10-stage event.

“I hope the title is already mine,” said Espiritu, a 31-year-old Malabon City native, who posted an aggregate clocking of 31:10:33. “But I still have to finish the race because anything can happen even if it’s just a criterium race.”

Espiritu also benefited from the change of route which took the riders to the Pugo junction route in southwest of Benguet instead of passing Agoo town proper in La Union, thus reducing the original 195-km Stage 9 to just 171 kms.

There were reports that a group which led the sudden rerouting was headed by Bernard Luzon of Cool Pap, Lloyd Reynante of Air21 and Merculio Ramos of U-Freight – all buddies of Espiritu.

The group, which actually agreed to take the original route in the flag-off briefing, had wanted a shortcut to Rosario in Pangasinan instead of the Agoo town proper in La Union, to shorten the stage by some 10kms.

But not all riders, including Ravina and Valenzuela, agreed.

A team coach, who requested anonymity, said the move favored no less than Espiritu.

“It’s obvious, the move ruined the plan of other teams,” said the source.