By Jerome Lagunzad
VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – It didn’t take long for fancied Navy-Standard Insurance to assert its dominance in this year’s Ronda Pilipinas presented by LBC.
Ronald Oranza and back-to-back champion Jan Paul Morales made an impressive 1-2 finish as the Navymen stamped their class in the opening 40-kilometer criterium stage yesterday that started and ended in Plaza Salcedo here.
Oranza, 25, showcased his sprinting prowess as he took charge early on and teamed up with Morales for majority of the way after the third lap before they outsprinted three other rivals in a mad dash to the finish in front of a small yet appreciative crowd.
The pride of Villasis, Pangasinan, Oranza checked in at one hour, 11 minutes and 21 seconds, the same clocking of Morales, veteran Philippine Army rider Alvin Benosa and promising George Oconer of Go For Gold Elite Team.
Jonel Carcueva, a teammate of Oconer, actually led the five-man breakaway group in the final lap but ran out of gas in the last 500 meters to settle for a fifth place finish, one second behind Oranza.
A pair of Navymen also made it to the Top 10, with former King of the Mountain winner Junrey Navara finishing at seventh overall with a time of 1:12:45 and Rudy Roque, the runner-up in the same stage last year, coming in at ninth at 1:12:52.
Unheralded Leonel Dimaano of newcomer Team Franzia finished sixth overall in one hour, 12 minutes and 42 seconds while Go for Gold Developmental Team’s Ismael Grospe came in three seconds late for an eighth place finish but good enough to seize the MVP Yellow Jersey for Under-23 classifications.
Rounding out the initial Top 10 rankings was Team Bike Xtreme’s James Ferfas, who had the same clocking as Roque, in the country’s biggest cycling race supported by MVP Sports Foundation, CCN, Petron, Versa.ph, 3Q Sports Event Management, Inc., Boy Kanin, Franzia, Standard Insurance, Bike Xtreme, SH+, Guerciotti, Prolite, Green Planet, Maynilad, NLEX Cycling, Lightwater, LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.
Oranza, a second-runner up winner in the 2013 edition won by Morales of CCN Superteam, will don the coveted Red Jersey as the general classification leader while Valenzuela, who tallied 31 points in sprint trials, will sport the Blue Jersey for Sunday’s 155.4-km ride up north to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
“Bukas (today) pa talaga ‘yung totoong laban,” said Morales, 32, aware that his other top rivals, led by Valenzuela, former two-time winner Santy Barnachea of Team Franzia and Army skipper Cris Joven, could make their presence felt.
The Navymen, however, wasted no little time in firing an ominous warning to the rest of the field, with Oranza leading the early breakaway along with Navara and hardly letting up in navigating stretches of narrow streets around “The Heritage City” that passed through the cobblestone pathways of the famous Calle Crisologo.
