BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya --- Unfazed by a bloodied and scraped elbow from a crash in the final 25 kilometers and a broken gear shifter, Russian Ivan Anisimov conquered Stage 4 of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) Tour of Luzon 2026 on Saturday to highlight the continued domination of LCW UAE Cycling Team in the individual contests.
Anisimov made his move in the last 500 meters of the 159-kilometer race route, which took off from Palayan City in Nueva Ecija and ended in front of the provincial capitol here, to cross the finish line first in a 33-man mass finish.
The Moscow native checked in with a clocking of three hours, 59 minutes and 41 seconds, beating Seoul Cycling Team’s Jung Hoon Lee and 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines’ Ronnilan Quita for LCW UAE’s second stage win.
“For me, I feel very, very good. I was relaxed and found a good position for the finish,” the 23-year-old rider said.
Anisimov recovered from a crash in a curve in Barangay Salinas, heading to Bambang by-pass road.
“I crashed in the last 25 kilometers and broke my shifters, which was a problem for me,” he added.
Catching up with the three-man lead pack, bannered by defending champion Dae Yeong Joo, as part of a massive peloton during the descent of the Kirang climb — the last of three King of the Mountain stages — inside the last 39.6 kms.
“In less than 500 meters I followed four guys and in the last 200 meters I started my final attack,” Anisimov said.
Anisimov was joined in the bunch finish by teammates Nikita Shulchenko, who protected his yellow jersey, and Stage 1 winner Yousef Ibrahiem Alrefai.
Also in the group were 7-Eleven’s Mervin Corpuz and Stage 3 ruler Dave Montemayor of Go for Gold Philippines.
Joo, who was in two solo breakaways before eventually allowing Quita and MPT DriveHub’s Rustom Lim to catch up heading to Dalton Pass, finished 40th after falling 13 seconds behind.
The trio was in front in the category 2 Kirang climb but eventually got gobbled up by the peloton.
Shulchenko had an aggregate time of 10:59:19 to remain on top of the individual general classification after four days of competition.
He built a 49-second lead over his Syrian teammate Alrefai while Montemayor drifted further by two minutes and four seconds in third.
“The team actually worked for this so I’m still wearing yellow,” Shulchenko said as he credited his teammates for protecting his lead.
Meanwhile, Go for Gold retained its lead in the team general classification with a total time of 45:05:44, staying clear of second-running 7-Eleven by 11 seconds.
Fifty seconds behind was Standard Insurance Philippines in third followed by National Team Malaysia (+6:05) and LCW UAE (+6:08).
Sunday’s Stage 5 is a relatively flat 126.7-km course from Santiago City to Tuguegarao in Cagayan featuring only one KOM stage in Caranglan.