John Mark Lexer Galedo stayed on the Men’s Elite throne, Nichol Pareja drew the spotlight in Men’s Under-23 and the girls of Standard Insurance wielded the broom in the Women’s category of the individual time trial (ITT) races of the PhilCycling 2019 National Road Cycling Championships on Tuesday in Tagaytay City.
Galedo, 33, clocked 27 minutes and 26.12 seconds to rule the 18-km Men Elite ITT that started at Sandari Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas, and finished at the Praying Hands Monument in Tagaytay City of the race presented by Standard Insurance, MVP Sports Foundation and Tagaytay City.
Go For Gold’s Jonel Carcueva clinched silver after finishing 9.75 seconds behind than the 7-Eleven Cliqq Air21 Roadbike Philippines rider Galedo, while Marcelo Felipe (28.43 behind), the national champion’s teammate, bagged the bronze.
Nichol Pareja, 19 and also of 7-Eleven, stunned the field with his gold medal-winning time of
26:57.60 in the Men’s Under-23 to finish atop the podium over Ismael Gorospe Jr. (Go For Gold, 28:24.20) and Daniel Ven Carino (Go For Gold, 28:28.30).
Tagaytay City Councilor Athena Tolentino welcomed the athletes and officials and awarded the medals to the winners along with Ube Media Inc./Le Tour de Filipinas head Donna Lina and Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go in the well-attended awarding ceremony at the Sambong Hall of the Tagaytay International Convention Center.
But the day also belonged to the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance women’s team, which underscored its supremacy in the races serving as dry run for the 30th Southeast Asian Games set November 30 to December 11.
Kate Yasmin Velasco topped the Under-23 category, Maritoni Krogg ruled the Women’s Junior race and Jermyn Prado was the fastest in Women’s Elite, gifting Standard Insurance team owner Ernesto “Judes” Echauz, who watched his riders vie in the championships, three gold medals.
Velasco clocked 21:33.10 in the 12-km ITT, shoving Mhay Ann Linda (22:20.60) to the silver and Shagne Paola Yaoyao (22:59.70) to the bronze, while Krogg timed 20:14.19 to win gold and top Nicole Quinones (22:03.40) and Marlen Marasigan (22:29.00).
Velasco also made her own statement with her winning time of 19:24.50, edging 2015 SEA Games ITT champion Marella Salamat (19:39.00) and Avegail Rombaon (20:56.40) in the race that saw the Highway Patrol Group of the Philippine National Police Region 4A command displaying their expertise in handling road cycling races.
Macryan Lago (17:41.23), John Patrick Pagtalunan (18:07.16) and Efren Reyes (18:15.46) finished 1-2-3 in the Men’s Junior ITT that was raced on the same 12-km route as the Women’s events.
The races resumed on Wednesday with the road races.
