SURPRISE VICTORY: Standard Insurance pulls off shock time trial victory

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur — The young guns of the 7Eleven Cliqq team thought they had the second lap of the Tour of Luzon in the bag Friday as the heat was starting to bear down on this city that is classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

In fact, 7Eleven’s chief tactician, the beaming and multi-awarded Mark Galedo, was already being interviewed in the sidelines by Manila-based reporters under the shade, expressing how delighted he was that his team is starting to gain inroads.

But moments later, the organizers came out with another set of results for the 68-kilometer team trial that kicked off in Paoay in Ilocos Norte, officially declaring that Standard Insurance-Navy — and not 7Eleven — was the lap winner.

Instead, 7Eleven went down to third to give way to runner-up Go For Gold, which joined the other teams passing through the well-paved roads from Paoay to the towns of Batac, Currimao, Badoc, Sinait, Cabgao, San Juan, Magsingal, Santo Domingo and San Ildefonso before finally settling down here.

Even Standard Insurance rider Ronald Oranza expressed surprise over the revised results, saying he thought that his squad only placed second.

“We were also surprised. We thought we finished second,” Oranza, who finished second during the opening stage, said.

Still, Oranza insists that it wasn’t just sheer lick that propelled them to first place and the top cash award of P70,000, an amount was vastly superior to the P40,000 and P30,000 purses the second and third received in this event that is dubbed “The Great Revival.”

“The Tour will have eight stages so we prepared for this,” the 32-year-old Oranza, a member of the national team, said.

With the win, Standard Insurance is keeping its fingers crossed.

“Let’s just see if we will be do well (in the next stages).”

Stage 3 is a 130-kilometer run from here to the surfing paradise of San Juan in La Union after zooming past several historic towns along the way, including Narvacan, Santa Maria, Candon, Santa Cruz, Tagudin in Ilocos Sur and Balaoan and Bacnotan in La Union.

This year’s Tour was revived with the help of Manny V. Pangilinan’s Group of Companies, which tapped Duckworld to stage the country’s first road race since the last Tour in 2019.

Bringing back the glory days of cycling and reliving its nostalgia prompted the men behind the race to revive the historic summer spectacle.

After Stage 3, the Tour heads to Clark from Agoo, a run that will cover 168.76 kilometers and the Clark-to-Clark 152.92-kilometer lap Stage 5.

From Clark, the race goes to Lingayen in Pangasinan for the 163.76-kilometer Stage 6 and Stage 7 15.2-kilometer Lingayen to Labrador (Pangasinan) individual time trial.

The finale, where the coveted King of the Mountain title will be won, will be from Lingayen to the Pines City on 1 May.

By the time the Tour finishes, all the 119 cyclists from 17 teams, including four continental, would have traveled to some of the country’s premier provinces and saw the region’s celebrated tourist spots.

So far, the Tour has been to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Paoay and Vigan) and national historic areas like in the town of Magsingal where a 300-year-old belfry, a national cultural treasure, still stands to this day.

This early — barring any unforeseen circumstances — it is safe to say that this year’s edition will be a tour to remember.