Repeat triumph in mass finish for Ivan

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines — In a furnace of 43-degree heat and a 65-man bunch sprint to the line, one Russian kept his cool.

Ivan Anisimov of LCW UAE stormed to his second straight photo-finish win in Stage Five of the MPTC Tour of Luzon yesterday, a day after stealing Stage Four the same way.

The 23-year-old Moscow native rode like the wind and outsprinted the field in a frantic dash to the line at the end of the 126.7-km race from Santiago, Isabela to this premier Cagayan Valley city.

“I didn’t understand how I won, but it’s amazing,” said Anisimov on the reprise of his triumph in the Palayan-Bayombong Stage Four.

Like everyone else in the mass finish, Anisimov clocked two hours, 47 minutes and 26 seconds.

Anisimov said he was ready for the scorching conditions. “It was good, I had many ice and water,” he said.

Excellent Noodles skipper Ryan Tugawin checked in second while Seoul’s Lee Jung Hoon third.

Tugawin stayed composed despite taking an alleged elbow hit from 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines’ Antoine Huby in a mad scramble approaching the finish arc.

“I was just focused on trying to win the race,” said the meek 36-year-old Tugawin, who was part of a 13-man breakaway group that was caught up by the peloton in Enrile town, 20 kilometers to the finish.

The pack included El Joshua Cariño who was chasing an eighth Stage Five triumph but fell short. “Unknown to many, I have seven Stage Five wins and I was hoping for No. 8,” he said. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”

After five grueling laps, LCW UAE’s Nikita Shulchenko remained unshakeable in the overall lead with an aggregate clocking of 13:46:45, 4 seconds ahead of Syrian teammate Ibrahiem Alrefai and 2.04 minutes up over Go for Gold’s Dave Montemayor.