Aussie snares Le Tour crown in dazzling finish

LUCENA, Philippines – Australian Jai Crawford of Japan’s Kinan Cycling Team saved his best for last, ruling the longest and final stage to crown himself the new Le Tour de Filipinas champion here yesterday.

Finishing fifth overall in the first two stages and skidding to ninth in the penultimate leg, Crawford took charge early in the lung-busting 207.35-km final run from Daet to Quezon Province’s capital city then held on until after the climb at Tatlong Eme in Atimonan – some 30 kms to the finish – to edge Terengganu Cycling Team’s Daniel Whitehouse and nail the International Cycling Union crown.

He timed 17:33:07, 28 seconds ahead of Whitehouse who had held the yellow jersey since topping the first leg.

Crawford jumped on Whitehouse’s Stage Three Naga to Daet performance, where the Terengganu bet trimmed his 1:57 lead in the individual general classification to 23 seconds.

“If you could have been in our team meeting last night, what happened today was exactly our plan,” said the 33-year-old Crawford who won his third UCI Category 2.2 race after topping the Tour of Siam in 2007 and the Tour de Banyuwangi Ijen in 2016.

“I knew I had really good legs. We are covered really well each day in this tour. I put it all into today (yesterday). I’ve actually been training at home thinking about this last stage.”

Crawford logged 5:00:16 in Stage Four, three seconds behind eventual winner Korean Sanghong Park of the LX Cycling Team. But it proved enough to beat Whitehouse, who came in two minutes, 28 seconds later than Park.

Whitehouse later shook Crawford’s hands in a sign of sportsmanship while the latter praised his 22-year-old rival in return, saying he was “incredibly strong in this tour” and that “he did a great job.”

After a fiery start that earned him the yellow, white (Best Young Rider), green (points classification) and red (King of the Mountain) jerseys in Stage One which he held on to before dropping the green jersey after Stage Three, Whitehouse ended up with one – the white jersey for the Best Young Rider award overall.

“For the people of the Philippines, salamat. Mabuhay!” said Whitehouse.

Mario Vogt of Attaque Team Gusto was this year’s best climber, collecting 24 points in three King of the Mountain summits, including a top finish in the Tatlong Eme in Atimonan, Quezon while 7-Eleven Road Bike Philippines ruled the Best Filipino Rider category, with the top three, Mark Galedo, Rustom Lim and Arjay Peralta, coming from their squad.