Lebas captures Le Tour crown

BAGUIO CITY—On a route historically considered as the ultimate test of grit and endurance, French Thomas Lebas pulled off a masterful conquest of Kennon Road Wednesday to rule the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas.

The 28-year-old climber from Marseille cut loose from his main rivals on the final ascent to join the pacesetting and hard-charging Iranians and nailed the championship by finishing third for the day at Baguio Convention Center.

With his unexpected show of mountain-climbing skills, Lebas, riding for the Japan-based Bridgestone Anchor Cycling team, easily wiped out the slim four-second lead of yellow-jersey holder Eric Sheppard and three-second edge of Mark Galedo of 7-Eleven/Road Bike Philippines after the final 101.7-kilometer stage from Lingayen, Pangasinan.

“I didn’t launch an attack. I just followed the Iranians because they are strong climbers,” said Lebas after claiming his fourth Tour victory in a UCI-recognized international race.

Iranian Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour of Tabriz Petrochemical captured stage honors in two hours, 54 minutes and one second. Hossein Askari of Iran-based Pishgaman Giant Team arrived two seconds later before Lebas checked in 42 seconds after the lap winner.

Galedo, last year’s champion, finished 12th in the stage, 2:36 behind Pourseyedigolakhour and settled for second overall.

“We focused on the yellow jersey (Sheppard) and the other challengers. We didn’t notice him (Lebas),” said Galedo in Filipino. “When we tried to chase him, it was too late.”

Sheppard, who held the overall lead for three days, crashed on a rough patch in the last three kilometers that cost him the race and tumbled to 10th overall in the end, 3:40 behind Lebas.

“It was an amateur mistake and I paid the price,” said the high-profile rider from Taiwan’s Attaque Team Gusto.

Galedo wound up 1:57 behind the winner with Lebas’ teammate and French rider Damien Monier placing third overall, 2:19 back. Pourseyedigolakhour wound up fourth (2:34 behind), Kazakhstan’s Oleg Zemiakov was fifth over Askari.

Iranians Amir Kolahdozhagh (3:27), Ahad Kazemi (3:35) and 2011 champion Rahim Emami (3:38) also surged in the overall standings and even finished ahead of Sheppard in the four-day bikathon presented by Air21 and co-presented by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart.

Tabriz ruled the team general classification after edging Bridgestone Anchor by one second, Pishgaman placed third, 1:10 behind.

Overall Individual Classification: Lebas, Thomas (BGT) 13:40:49, 2. Galedo, Mark (T7E) 1:57 behind, 3. Monier, Damien (BGT) 2:19, 4. Pourseyedigolakhour, Mirsamad (TPT) 2:34, 5. Zemiakov, Oleg (KAZ) 2:40, 6. Aksari, Hossein (PKY) same time, 7. Kolahdozhagh, Amir (TPT) 3:27, 8. Kazemi, Ahad (TPT) 3:35, 9. Emami, Rahim (PKY) 3:38, 10. Sheppard, Eric (ATG) 3:40, 11. Ambrose, Scott (TNN) 3:58, 12. Navarra, Jun Rey (PHI) 4:08, 13. Mehrabani, Ramin (PKY) 4:32, 14. Yeung, Ronald (ATG) 4:33, 15. Suryadi, Dadi (PCT) 4:34