LEGAZPI CITY – Unheralded Ryan Tugawin of Team Tarlac edged out Ismael Grospe, Jr. of Go for Gold in a thrilling stage two duel to claim his first-ever lap victory Monday even as Mark Julius Bordeos of Bicycology-Army kept the overall lead in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race.
Tugawin, 30, summoned his remaining strength in the lung-busting 154.5-kilometer race that started and ended in front of the city hall here to snatch the lap honor from Grospe in the event presented by LBC and backed by the MVP Sports Foundation.
Tugawin’s win was his first since joining the event three years ago.
Grospe wound up second while George Oconer of Standard Insurance-Navy checked in third.
The top three finishers were give the same clocking of three hours, 50 minutes and 37 seconds just like the rest of the peloton that caught up with the five-man lead pack that included former champions Jan Paul Morales and Ronald Oranza of Navy and Mark Galedo of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21.
It was the best effort for the Solano, Nueva Vizcaya rice farmer after snaring a second-place effort in a stage in Guimaras last year.
Bordeos kept the LBC red jersey with a total clocking of 6:56:34 while Scratch It’s Jerry Aquino, Jr. and Oconer were at second and third with 6:56:37 and 6:56:40, respectively.
Also in the top 10 are Rustom Lim (6:56:40), Galedo (6:56:47), Aidan James Mendoza (6:56:54), Marcelo Felipe (6:56:56) and Mervin Corpuz (6:56:56).
Rounding up the top 10 were Alvin Binosa of Celeste Cycles (6:56:57) and Jester Neil Mendoza of Bicycology (6:57:01).
Tugawin also took advantage of the brewing battle between Navy and 7Eleven as the two teams tried to outwit one another in the event offering P1 million to the individual champion and P200,000 to the team title.
7Eleven appeared to be gaining an inside track as five of its riders made it to the top 10 that propelled the team to the top of standings, dislodging Navy.
After two days, 7Eleven logged 27:47:23 as against Navy’s 27:49:54 and Bicycology’ 27:50.03.
The annual race, which has Versa, 8A Performance, Print2Go, Petron, Green Planet, Bike Xtreme, Standard Insurance, Spyder, CCN, Lightwater, Prolite, Guerciotti, Black Mamba, Boy Kanin, Vitamin Boost, NLEX-SCTEX, Maynilad, 3Q Sports Event Management Inc., LBC Foundation and PhilCycling as backers, resumes in today’s 119km Legazpi-Naga Stage Three.
Meanwhile, LBC Ronda Pilipinas chairman Moe Chulani announced that Stages Six and Seven will be moved to Tarlac City this weekend.
“On behalf of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas, we would like to thank Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino III and Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil for the invitation to hold two stages there,” said Chulani in a statement.
“Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, they have decided to cancel all events including sports activities. In lieu of this, we went to Tarlac City to hold Stages Six and Seven to complete our scheduled 10 stages,” he added.
