Kazakhs’ Zemlyakov is 4-Ever
LEGAZPI CITY – Oleg Zemlyakov of Vino 4-Ever SKO, a talented young Kazakh rider being groomed for a possible stint in the Tour de France someday, made his mark and scored his first major win on Philippine soil.
The 22-year-old Zemlyakov, who is set to join the Team Astana’s World Team next year, bucked mechanical woes in the windup to the culminating 160.2-km Legazpi-Legazpi race around majestic Mayon Volcano to finish in the third group behind lap winner Timothy Guy of Attaque Team Gusto and clinch the Le Tour de Filipinas crown yesterday.
Zemlyakov logged a four-stage clocking of 17 hours, 36 minutes, 23 seconds to crown himself the best of them all in the LTdF just a year after bagging the “Best Young Rider” in the UCI 2.2 event.
He led a 1-2 finish for Vino as 20-year-old Yevgeniy Gidich took the silver in the Individual General Classification 19 seconds behind. Gidich also captured the Best Young Rider accolade while Vino 4-Ever, a team sponsored by Kazakh London Olympics champ Alexander Vinokourov, won the Team General Classification crown with 52:53:02 over 7-Eleven-Sava Roadbike Philippines (52:58:18).
Ronel Hualda of Team Cebu Kopiko Phl likewise enjoyed his day as he won Best Climber honors with 19 points after earning 13 markers in the two King of the Mountain summits yesterday.
Roadbike’s Australian cyclist Jesse Ewart missed out on a podium finish as he finished just one second behind third-placer Batmunkh Maral-Erdene of Terengganu (17:36:44). Ewart’s teammate Marcelo Felipe placed fifth in 17:37:45.
“Mission accomplished!” said Vino coach Sergey Danniker, flashing the thumbs-up sign.
Zemlyakov encountered a broken spoke and brakes as the riders reached the left turn to the National Highway to Guinobatan town some 30K to the finish line but that didn’t deter him from completing his date with destiny.
He lay the foundation of his triumph with a swashbuckling victory in Stage Two from Lucena to Daet. He opened a 19-second lead against Gidich at the halfway point of the race and with the help of his teammates, protected the yellow jersey until the end.
“We controlled the pace of the race to maintain our lead,” said Danniker, whose team will stay in the “City of Fun and Adventure” for 10 more days to hold a training camp for their next campaign in the Tour of Taiwan.
Zemlyakov, the reigning National champion in Kazakhstan, stuck with the peloton throughout the final lap and merrily checked home in a 30man pack at 3:53:01.
Like the youthful Kazakh, Aussie Guy scored a personal milestone with his stage win. Guy made his move in the final 5K heading to the Old Albay district to check in solo at 3:52:50. Teammate Cameron Bayly took runner-up honors nine seconds adrift while Jang Sun Jae of Korean team LX-IIBS placed third with a similar clocking as Bayly.
“With 5K to go, I saw a chance and attacked and managed to stay away,” said the rider from Orange, Australia.
Notes: An interested spectator at the finish line in front of Legazpi City Hall was Olympian Arturo Romeo, a proud son of Ligao town. Romeo, who competed in the time trial and road race in the 1964 Tokyo Games, scheduled his visit to sister Fe in time for the Le Tour de Filipinas’ final stage. “Yung mga gamit ng siklista ngayon magagaan; nun araw mabibigat,” observed the 75-year-old Romeo, who obliged requests for photo-op by cycling old-timers who know him.