Malaysian track ace tops 3rd stage; Aussie keeps lead in Le Tour

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Malaysian rider Harrif Salleh considers the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas as his training ground for bigger races on the horizon.

The track specialist from Terengganu Cycling Team powered ahead in a tight sprint to the finish Tuesday and ruled Stage 3 of the only Union Cycliste International race in the Philippines.

Salleh, a 27-year-old veteran of the Tour de Langkawi, nosed out Iranian Mehdi Sohrabi and German Tino Thomel at the line in the bunched finish that saw 58 riders submit identical times of three hours, 38 minutes and 35 seconds.

“I’m good at sprints and this could be my only chance to win a stage because tomorrow’s race will be in the mountains,” said Saleh, who is preparing for the Asian Cycling Championship this month in Thailand and the Singapore Southeast Asian Games in June.

The triple gold medalist (in scratch, points race and team pursuit) during the 2011 SEA Games will try his luck at road racing in the ACC and SEA Games.

Australia’s Eric Sheppard of Attaque Team Gusto checked in with the main wave after the mostly flat 150.10-kilometer ride from Iba, Zambales, to keep the overall lead for the third straight day.

Except for the early breakaway of three foreign riders at the 22 km mark, just outside Iba, and the fierce pace the peloton used to swallow the trio near the finish, the stage was relatively uneventful.

Arriving with Sheppard were defending champion Mark Galedo of 7-Eleven/ Road Bike Philippines, who remained three seconds behind at second overall, and Frenchman Thomas Lebas of Bridgestone Anchor Cycling, four seconds back.

“It’s still a wide-open race,” said Sheppard, who won the opening stage in Balanga, Bataan, on Sunday. “I’ll do my best to protect the yellow jersey (Le Tour’s symbol of leadership).”

Kazakhstan’s Oleg Zemakiov held on to fifth (0:10 behind) followed by Stage 2 winner Scott Ambrose of New Zealand (1:35), national team skipper Ronald Oranza (1:48), Hong Kong’s Ronald Yeung (1:59), Damien Monier of France (2:07), Singaporean Choot Huat Goh (2:13) and Marcelo Felipe of 7-Eleven/ Road Bike Philippines (2:16).

“We executed our race plan perfectly,” said Galedo. “We watched out for the attacks and kept pace with the contenders.”

Today (Wednesday)’s 107.10 km final stage to Baguio City along Kennon Road will decide the champion of the four-day bikathon presented by Air21 and co-presented by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart.

Korean Jang Sun-jae, Japanese Hiroshi Tsubaki and Australian Theodore Yates sped away from the peloton early and held on to the lead over the next 122 km across the coastal towns of Northern Zambales and Eastern Pangasinan.

The peloton began to gain ground on the trio in Alaminos, 50 km to the finish, before catching up with Jang and Tsubaki with just 2 km left. Yates had a tire puncture in Alaminos.

Stage Individual Classification: Salleh, Harrif (TSG) 3:38:35, 2. Sohrabi, Mehdi (TPT) same time, 3. Thomel, Tino (RTS) same time, 4. Hatsayuma, Sho (BGT) same time, 5. Jan, Chanjae (ATG) same time, 6. Aquino, Jerry (PHI) same time, 7. Angel Vazquez (T7E) same time, 8. Galeyev, Vadim (KAZ) same time, 9. Terasaki, Takero (BGT) same time, 10. Glasspool, James (TNN)