Nikita Shulchenco of LCW UAECycling Team in motion in the course of the Tour of Luzon. –HANDOUT PHOTO
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Nikita Shulchenko closed in on the MPTC Tour of Luzon title after ending second in the person time trial of the penultimate stage won by Kyeong Ho Min.
Min captured his second stage win after ruling the 20-kilometer race-against-time event in 25 minutes and 39 seconds, with Shulchenko 22 seconds behind.
Coupled with Antoine Huby placing thirteenth overall, Shulchenko was in a position to stretch his hold on the yellow jersey going into the ultimate stage of the derby wheels going to Baguio from here via Kennon Road.
Nikita Shulchenko’s lap time of 26 minutes and one second was only good for second, 22 seconds behind, but it surely was ok for him to increase his lead over Antoine Huby in the overall classification. #TourOfLuzon2026 | @jonasterradoINQ pic.twitter.com/xLHwsQSymV
— INQUIRER Sports (@inquirersports) May 12, 2026
Shulchenko, the Russian ace of the Filipino-owned, Dubai-based LCW UAE Cycle, now has a complete time of 36:42:22, ahead by 3:50 over Huby of 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines.
The French rider finished the ITT in 27:17, a day after jumping to second overall together with his win within the Stage 12 climb towards Daang Kalikasan in Mangatarem.
Huby entered the ITT trailing Shulchenko in the general standings by 2:30.
Joseph Javiniar of Excellent Noodles finished third within the ITT in 26:09 while Nash Lim of MPT DriveHub clocked 26:33 to grow to be the most effective Filipino cyclist entering the ultimate lap of the 14-stage cycling odyssey.
Lim jumped to fourth, 8:05 adrift, but is way behind third-running Ibrahiem Alrefai, who trails teammate Shulchenko by 5:37.
7-Eleven’s Mervin Corpuz is fifth by 8:54, while the remainder of the highest consists of Malaysia’s Muhammad Mazlin (+9:26), 7-Eleven’s Ronnilan Quita (+9:46), MPT’s Rustom Lim (+12:19), Seoul’s Jung Woo Ho (+13:30) and Go for Gold Philippines’ Rench Michael Bondoc (+13:54).