Tour of Luzon: Nikita Shulchenko takes yellow jersey after Stage 3

Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai of Syria (right) and Russian teammate Nikita Shulchenko bump fists near the finish line. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija—Russian rider Nikita Shulchenko became the new leader of the MPTC Tour of Luzon after snatching the yellow jersey from teammate Ibrahiem Alrefai.

Shulchenko placed fourth in Friday’s third stage that ended in this city, thus leapfrogging fellow LCW UAE Cycle for the overall lead with an accumulated time of six hours, 59 minutes and 38 seconds.

READ: Tour of Luzon: Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai, teammate go 1-2 in opening stage

Alrefai, the 19-year-old Syrian who claimed the Calatagan-Tagatay opening lap on Wednesday, is 49 seconds behind followed by Go for Gold Philippines’ Dave Montemayor, who won Stage 3 in a bunch finish.

Montemayor trails Shulchenko by 2:04 while Excellent Noodles’ Sumiso Basalan is fourth by 2:09 while 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines’ Mervin Corpuz moved up to fifth with a gap of 2:15.

Fellow 7-Eleven pedal pushers in Frenchman Antoine Huby and Standard Insurance Philippines’ Dave Cangayao are behind by 2:16, while rounding out the top 10 are 7-Eleven’s Ronnilan Quita (+2:26), Excellent Noodles’ Tyler Hannay (+2:51) and Go for Gold’s Rench Michael Bondoc (+2:55).

Meanwhile, Go for Gold reclaimed the team general classification lead after a 1-2 finish by Montemayor and Marc Ryan Lago.

Go for Gold returned to the top spot with an overall time of 29:07:00, with 7-Eleven now in second by 11 seconds. Standard Insurance Philippines is third by 45 seconds while previous leader, Excellent Noodles, dropped to fourth, 3:11 behind.

Excellent Noodles got the lead after Stage 2, following a second-place finish behind Seoul Cycling Team in the Clark-New Clark City team time trial Stage 2.