VIGAN, Ilocos Sur – Kenneth Solis of Team Tarlac claimed his very first lap victory while George Oconer of Standard Insurance-Navy inched closer to writing history after the ninth and penultimate stage of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race Tuesday.
Solis, 26, came from behind to edge Christopher Garado of South Luzon-Batangas and Mar Sudario of Bike Extreme in the 170.6km Stage Nine that started in Pugo, La Union and ended in front of the provincial capitol here for his most significant performance since joining the annual event four years ago.
Bryant Sepnio of Celeste Cycles, Mervin Corpuz of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines and two-time champion Santy Barnachea of Scratch It were part in that first group that clocked four hours, 15 minutes and 27 seconds.
The Army man then dedicated his triumph to one-month old daughter Brianna Kate.
“This is special to me and I’m dedicating it to my baby,” said an ecstatic Solis in Filipino.
It was the second lap triumph for Team Tarlac after Ryan Tugawin reigned supreme in Stage Two in Legazpi City.
The day, however, belonged to the 28-year-old Oconer, who kept his iron grip of the individual general classification lead with an aggregate clocking of 31:50:52, more than a minute quicker than teammates Ronald Oranza (31:52:07).
His other teammates followed suit – Ronald Lomotos31:52:10), John Mark Camingao (31:52:45), Junrey Navarra (31:53:09) and El Joshua Carino (31:54:43).
Rounding up the top 10 were the Go for Gold troika of Jonel Carcueva (31:56:16), Daniel Ven Carino (31:56:38) and Ismael Grospe, Jr. (31:56:40), and Bicycology-Army’s Marvin Tapic (31:59:38).
The final stage—a criterium—here will be Oconer’s coronation lap as he will finally end a long search for the title.