DAGUPAN CITY?Oscar Rindole sustained a solo breakaway in the final five kilometers to win Stage 3 and move up to second overall yesterday in the Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions.

Rindole, the Ube Media team captain who hails from Sta. Fe, Guimba, Nueva Ecija, broke loose from an original nine-man lead pack that included overall leader Santy Barnachea and finished the 153.3-km stage in three hours, 30 minutes and 38 seconds.

?I feel I?m in top condition,? said Rindole in Filipino after a display of aggressive driving that also helped lift Ube Media to the overall lead in the race for the P500,000 team prize.

A private first class in the Navy and seventh overall in the recent Liquigaz Tour of Luzon, Rindole wheeled into contention for a possible richer payday by advancing within two minutes off Barnachea of Air2100.

Lucien Lloyd Reynante of American Vinyl towed home the eight-man second group that included Barnachea to clinch second place for the day and advance to fourth overall behind Baler Ravina of Burger King.

Ravina came home 2:18 behind Rindole in the fourth group but kept third place, 2:37 behind Barnachea and seven seconds ahead of Reynante.

The day?s biggest disappointment was Arnel Quirimit of Columbia Sportswear, who plummeted to 12th place overall, from second behind Barnachea when the race started in Apalit, Pampanga.

Quirimit, the 2003 Tour champion, finished almost nine minutes behind Rindole and now stood 7:32 off Barnachea.

Frederick Feliciano of Cargohaus climbed to fifth overall, 2:50 behind, followed by Joel Calderon of Smart Buddy (2:55), Renato Sembrano of Tanduay (4:00), Warren Davadilla of Mail and More (5:11), Nicandro Guanzon of Ube Media (5:59) and Ronnel Hualda of American Vinyl (6:42).

In the team event, Ube Media forged ahead with an imposing lead of 8:04.231 lead over erstwhile leader American Vinyl. Columbia Sportswear was in third (20:39.661 behind), followed by Air2100 (24:01.202 behind) and Burger King (26:27.689).

?I lost steam trying to stay close with the breakaway group,? said Barnachea. ?But I will try to hold on to the Manny V. Pangilinan yellow jersey.?

Barnachea has a total of 11:49:07 going into today?s team time trial from Dagupan City to San Fernando, La Union.

Rindole was with Reynante and four others in the first breakaway group at the 94-km mark in San Clemente, Tarlac.

But Barnachea and four others caught up with the lead pack 28 km to the finish in Aguilar, Pangasinan.

The orderly finish here impressed organizers of the event presented by Tanduay with Smart Communications and Air2100 as major sponsors.

Barriers were set up in the last 3 km up to the finish in front of the Dagupan Plaza, giving the cyclists unhampered moving room for a final dash to the wire.

Completing the overall team standings were Tanduay (28:59.520 behind), Smart Buddy (31:17.003), Mail and More (35:14.980), Wow Magic Sing (38:09.518), Go21 (46:48.298), Gin Kapitan (47:17.011), U-Freight (1:03:43.251), Cargohaus (1:15:23.719), Solarlina (1:21:53.674) and Navray (1:37:41.511).