Ean Cajucom rules 99-cyclist La Union mass finish in Tour of Luzon
LA UNION, PHILIPPINES – The 2025 Tour of Luzon just got a whole lot more competitive approaching the middle legs as Victoria Sports PH prospect Ean Cajucom edged 98 other cyclists in a huge Stage 3 mass finish at San Juan, La Union on Saturday, April 26.
Unlike Stage 1 where current overall leader Dae Yeong Joo of South Korea came in 4 minutes and 22 seconds ahead of everyone else, Stage 3 featured a mass sprinting frenzy to the finish with Cajucom ever so slightly nosing ahead and getting the precious win bonus under a scorching 39-degree Celsius heat index with a time of 2 hours, 51 minutes, and 42 seconds.
The 22-year-old from Marikina City is the first Victoria Sports podium finIsher after the group’s quiet outings in the first two stages in Paoay, Ilocos Norte and Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Ahmad Syazrin Awang Ilah of Malaysia Pro Cycling came in second, while Poul Aquino of DReyna Orion Cement finished third.
“Today’s team strategy was to treat this like a one-day race because we messed up Stage 1,” Cajucom said in Filipino.
“We didn’t have anyone in front, we let the GC (general classification) slip from us, and because of these, we had an idea on what to do in the next stages.”
It was a perfectly executed game plan for Victoria Sports, which had Cajucom as a reserve sprinter for flat stages like the 130-kilometer Vigan-San Juan Stage 3 route that was initially led by an eight-man lead pack of Joo, Junreck Carcueva of MPT DriveHub, and Exodus Army’s Daryl Dulatre, among others.
After setting the pace for nearly two hours, however, the 91-man peloton eventually swallowed the leaders whole despite them once having nearly a two-minute gap from the rest, as the route narrowed in Bacnotan, La Union within the last five kilometers.
Though Filipinos notably worked together to shield Joo from gaining any late momentum, the Gapyeong Cycling captain still undisputedly holds the individual GC lead, as no one came remotely close to threatening his huge four-minute lead from Stage 1 even after finishing 76th in the 99-rider Stage 3 finish.
Despite a muted third leg finish, star-studded Standard Insurance Philippines still keeps a slight edge in the team GC, just 19 seconds in front of MPT DriveHub.
The individual GC winner is set to win P500,000, while the team GC kings will share a P1 million bounty at the end of all eight stages by Thursday, May 1, in Baguio City.
The long routes keep coming as Stage 4 offers 163.76 kilometers of racing from the Eagle of the North in Agoo, La Union down south to Filinvest Mimosa in Clark, Pampanga on Sunday, April 27, starting 8 am. – Rappler.com