Veilleux dislodges Mumford; Perry scores

SUBIC , Philippines  – James Perry and Dennis Von Nickalk of EMG Cycling Team seized the lap honors but it was David Veilleux of Kelly Benefits Strategies who earned the spotlight in the seventh stage of the 2010 LPGMA Tour of Luzon.

Veilleux finished third after the 137-kilometer race from Cubi Point through the hills of Pilar, Bataan and back to grab the overall lead going into the final two stages of the multi-stage race.

Veilleux, who clocked 4:05:17.58 in the stage, amassed 16 hours, 41 minutes, 14.47 seconds to strip teammate Reid Mumford of the yellow jersey.

Perry ruled the lap in four hours, five minutes, 4.42 seconds while Nickalk came in 8.16 seconds later to complete the toughest stage of the Tour backed by partylist LPGMA, Geo Estate Beacon, American Vinyl, Smart, Energizer, Schick and Liquigaz.

Baler Ravina of Liquigaz fourth (23.99) and towed Irish Valenzuela of American Vinyl and Mumford (27.7) before the group of Smart’s Oscar Rendole, American Vinyl’s Cris Joven and Tomas Martinez of Smart checked in.

Nickalk trailed Veilleux in the general classification standings by 4.83 seconds while Mumford, erstwhile overall leader the last two days, was only five seconds adrift of Veilleux.

“It’s going to be difficult but we have to protect it,’’ said the 22-year-old Veilleux from Montreal, Canada. ``If we hold it together, I suppose we can maintain the lead.’’

Smart’s Tomas Martinez, who captured Stage 5 on the hilly section of San Jose, Tarlac, was named Burlington King of the Mountain after collecting 18 points to edge out Nickalk (14 points) for the award.

Perry moved up to fourth overall (3:03.87) followed by Ravina (3:07.01), Ryan Anderson of Kelly Benefits (3:32.14), Tagaytay’s Jay Tolentino (4:28.55), Valenzuela (4:29.83), Martinez (4:44.71) and Arnel Quirimit of Liquigaz (5:39.68).

Stage 8 is a criterium inside the Subic Airport Loop, after which the Tour travels back to Metro Manila for the Ayala Triangle circuit tomorrow.

Completing the top 15 were Smart’s Joel Calderon, American Vinyl’s Cris Joven, Oscar Rendole (Smart), Renato Sembrano of Geo Estate Beacon, Chau Wai Man of Champion System Racing Team and Joseph Millanes (Smart).