CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur — Outsprinting Benedict Soriano in the final 100 meters of the 137.6-kilometer race, Danish cyclist Daniel Ridwan Guld of the CCN Factory Racing ruled Stage 9 of the MPTC Tour of Luzon that took riders from Laoag City in Ilocos Norte to Candon City in Ilocos Sur on Friday.
Guld timed 3:12:02 in the race that featured small uphill roads in the final stretch including the last one where he moved to overtake Soriano of the Pangasinan Cycling Team.
Clocking the same time as Guld and Soriano under the 3-second rule, Daniel Jay Farinas of the Pangasinan Cycling Team finished third in the race.
Ronnilan Quita of 7Eleven Roadbike Philippines was actually poised to top the leg but he missed a turn in the roundabout about a kilometer away from the finish line. He ended up fourth instead with the same time as the top three finishers.
“It was super hot today, it was hot in the breakaway,” said the 25-year-old Guld.
“Sometimes we didn’t want to take turns so I had to push extra hard to make it to the finish line.”
He also said that the rising terrain toward the final stretch of the race worked in his favor.
“I liked the small uphills like these, it’s something I’m used to,” said Guld.
“The small climbs like these on a hot day, I love that.”
Meanwhile, Russian Nikita Sulchenko of the LCW UAE Cycle Team tightened his hold on the yellow jersey with a total time of 26:01:59.
Sulchenko finished 36th with a time of 3:12:25 in Stage 9.
Sulchenko's Syrian teammate Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai is 1:38 behind at 26:03:37 to stay in second place while local bet Mervin Corpuz of 7Eeleven is 4:15 behind the leader at 26:06:14 at third place.
Stage 8 winner Ryan Tugawin, meanwhile, moved the needle on Friday, rising from sixth to fourth and is now 4:19 behind Sulchenko (26:06:18).
British Douglas Tyler Hannay of Excellent Noodles is fifth with an aggregate clocking of 26:06:33.
Local teams continued to lead the way in the team general classification with Go for Gold spearheading the pack with 103:15:35.
Standard Insurance Philippines is second (+1:40) while 7Eleven is third (+3:04).
Stage 10 of the 14-leg race is on Saturday featuring a 131.2-kilometer race from Candon City to Cervantes in Ilocos Sur.
