By Nate Castillo

CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur --- Danish rider Daniel Guld attacked in the final 100 meters to beat Filipino bet Benidict Soriano to the finish line for a Stage 9 conquest of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) Tour of Luzon 2026 on Friday.

Overtaking a complacent Soriano in the uphill turn to the checkered flag in front of the Candon City Arena here, the CCN Factory Racing ace crossed the line in front of a seven-man bunch finish in three hours, 13 minutes and two seconds for the team’s first podium finish.

“It was super hot today, it was hot in the breakaway,” said Guld of the race that ran under the midday sun and temperatures that hit 36 degrees Celsius.

He was with the seven-rider lead pack that built nearly four minutes of lead over the peloton. It was a grueling pace to maintain with the bunch that stayed competitive until the end.

“Sometimes we didn’t want to take turns, so I had to push extra hard to make it to the finish line,” Guld said.

Soriano of Pangasinan Cycling Team landed in second, followed by his teammate Daniel Farinas to complete the podium cast.

They finished with the same time as Guld alongside Ronnilan Quita of 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines, Sumiso Basalan of Excellent Noodles, Marc Lago of Go for Gold and Rrking Roque of MPTC Drivehub.

It was a wasted run for Quita, who was in the lead until missing a right turn in the 700 meters to the finish with Basalan, Lago and Roque, costing him a podium in the 137.6-kilometer race that started in Laoag City in Ilocos Norte.

For the seventh straight day, Nikita Schulchenko retained his hold of the yellow jersey with an aggregate time of 26:01:59 in the individual general classification.

He stayed a minute and 38 seconds ahead of teammate Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai while 7-Eleven’s Mervin Corpuz and Quita were in third and fourth with the clocking of 4:15 and 4:19 back, respectively.

Go for Gold was unmovable on top of the team general classification with a total time of 103:15:35 for a minute and 40 seconds ahead of Standard Insurance.

Three minutes and four seconds behind in third place was 7-Eleven after nine stages.