INQUIRER Sports

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Through the thick fog and torrential rains, Joel Calderon made it very clear who is King of the Mountain.

The Smart Buddy skipper conquered the verdant mountains of Naguilian – its sharp elbow turns and blinding haze – to win Stage 7 and capture the yellow jersey of the Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions in a dramatic solo finish Thursday

Calderon bombarded away through the traffic jam of Sablan town some 13 kilometers to the finish to beat pursuer Lloyd Lucien Reynante who came in second both in the stage and in the general classification with less than two minutes between them.

Right after crossing the finish line all alone, the 27-year-old from Guimba, Nueva Ecija threw his bike and slumped at the foot of a bridge -- near the provincial capitol -- in the pouring rain after finishing the arduous 163-kilometer route in five hours, nine minutes and 33.59 seconds.

``Naubos ako ngayon, bahala na kung ano na lang magagawa ko bukas (I was exhausted today, I'll just do whatever I can tomorrow),'' said Calderon who also bumped Santy Barnachea off the overall lead for the first time in five stages.

But by then he still didn't know he just made crucial inroads to the title, which will be disputed in Friday’s final, Baguio-to-Baguio stage.

Now he's 1:45 clear of Reynante (American Vinyl) whose Stage efforts of finishing just 1:55 off Calderon enabled him to bolt from fifth place to second.

Mountain stage favorite and erstwhile second-running Frederick Feliciano of Cargohaus arrived 5th, 9:01 later in a fit of despair and fighting tears. He's 7:58 off overall but kept a foothold at third place.

His team manager Ricarlito Balmis spoke on his behalf: ``Groggy na rin, nalaspag kasi walang nakuhang kapalit at suporta sa teammates (He was groggy and exhausted because he wasn't able to get support from his teammates.''

Barnachea suffered a flat tire in Bauang and claimed that the spare tire handed to him was ``too heavy.'' He checked in 32nd and was obviously aware that he was stripped of MVP yellow jersey – which he wore starting Stage 3 in Apalit, Pampanga.

After coming 16:22 behind the Stage winner, Barnachea, the 2002 and 2006 champion, almost saw his title hopes slipped from his fingers as he slid to 10th place, 13:42 behind Calderon.

``Nabura ang lamang ko (My lead vanished),'' was all Barnachea could say as he picked up his bike to take shelter from the heavy downpour.

Renowned climber Baler Ravina of Burger King failed to live up to expectation, making it 20th in the stage. He checked in 13:50 behind and moved down overall standings from fourth to 9th.

But suffering even more heartbreak are a handful of riders who took a wrong turn going to Benguet from Baguio City.

Among them was 2004 Tour champ Arnel Quirimit whose team, Columbia Sportswear reportedly planned to protest to the organizers over the incident.

Quirimit and teammate Rex Carino reportedly took a left, instead of right, in Bokawkan heading to La Trinidad which cost them precious minutes. They blamed the lack of instructional guide in finishing 15:42 behind the winner.

But race director Paquito Rivas said he already gave instructions to the race officials not to make any lefts, because the path to the finish line coming from Naguilian is all right turns.

Quirimit is 22nd overall more than 22 minutes off Calderon.

Emelito Atilano of U-Freight wound up third in the penultimate stage with 8:34 deficit, followed by Stage 1 winner Renato Sembrano of Tanduay (8:34), Bryant Sefno of Ube Media (8:49), Feliciano (9:05) two-time champ Warren Davadilla of Mail & More (9:33), Merculio Ramos of Wow Magic Sing (9:33) and Mark Julius Bonzo of Tanduay (9:33) in the top 10.

Overall, Sembrano is at fourth (9:13) followed by Stage 3 winner Oscar Rindole of Ube Media (10:04), Davadilla (11:18), Ronel Hualda of American Vinyl (12:32), Stage 2 victor Irish Valenzuela of Columbia Sportswear (13:16), Ravina (13:27) and Barnachea.

In team event, American Vinyl has overtaken Ube Media in overall standings, registering an 11:20 lead. Rounding out the top 10 are Tanduay (31:00), Columbia Sportswear (41:17), Wow Magic Sing (50:58), Mail & More (51:18), Smart Buddy (52:11), Burger King (53:32), Air2100 (1:00:35) and Gin Kapitan (1:03:59).