National rider Ismael Grospe Jr., who is preparing for the 30th Southeast Asian Games, emerged as the third stage champion in the ongoing races of the Tour de Singkarak in Indonesia.
With his feat, Grospe, who is carrying the Team Go For Gold banner, moved to third in the general classification standings and on top of the King of the Mountain Classification of this UCI 2.2 event.
In the taking the stage, the 21-year-old Grospe moved in front of veteran rider Bambang Suryadi of PGN Road-Indonesia.
The competition is a 125.6-kilometer race from Kota to Pagang-Panjang stage.
It was Grospe’s second stage win of the season after winning the PRU Ride races last May.
Both Grospe and Suryadi finished with a similar clocking of three hours 16 mins and 14 seconds, four seconds in front of third placer Kurniawan Kurniawan (BRC Indonesia).
Grospe, who was in 14th place overall standings before Stage 3, is three minutes behind GC leaders, Team Sapura-Malaysia’s Jesse Ewart and Cristian Railaneau.
He also clinched the day’s KOM honors and snatched the overall KOM honors from Marcelo Felipe of the 7Eleven Cliqq Air 21 Road Bike Philippines.
Team officials said in a message that it was an unexpected win for Grospe.
This was because their goal was to protect Jonnel Carcueva’s general classification placing and the second place position of Team Go For Gold in the team classification.