Tour of Luzon: Nash Lim emerges as top Filipino rider

Nash Lim in action during the MPTC Tour of Luzon. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BAGUIO—Nash Lim of MPT DriveHub became the best-finishing Filipino rider of the MPTC Tour of Luzon after a late push during the latter stages of the derby on wheels.

The 23-year-old Lim, who got into the sport at the height of the pandemic, placed fourth with a total time of 41 hours, 20 minutes and 23 seconds after making a late push during the waning stages.

Lim was one minute and 21 seconds better than the next local pedalist, 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines’ Ronnilan Quita, who was fifth overall.

“Really happy that I was able to secure fourth,” said Lim, who is actually competing for Factor Racing, a UCI continental team based in Slovenia, but was tapped by coach Mark Galedo for the summer cycling spectacle.

After lurking inside the top 20 during the initial stages of the Tour, Lim excelled during the two individual time trials in Pagudpud (Stage 7) and Lingayen (Stage 13) while also posting top 10 finishes in stages that had tough climbs.

He jumped to fourth after Stage 13 when he placed third in the ITT before ending the Tour, 9:13 behind champion Nikita Shulchenko, the Russian rider of LCW UAE Cycle.

“I felt that I’ve improved during this Tour of Luzon competition,” said Lim, who placed 15th last year’s eight-stage revival while competing for DReyna Orion Cement.

A native of the northern portion of Caloocan and admittedly hooked on mobile games like Valorant, Lim took up the sport as a mountain biker before realizing he could thrive after becoming a national champion in the ITT event.

During Stage 7, Lim placed fourth in the first race-against-the-clock event.

“Those two ITTs were really crucial because I was able to eat up time in the GC,” said Lim, adding his knack in the time trial was something he realized by accident.

The finish should be satisfying for Galedo, who had given his team orders to focus on the GC rather than the team title, which MPT had won the previous year. Rustom Lim (no relation) placed eighth in the GC.