Phl riders sweep Ronda 2nd lap

MARCELO Felipe of 7/11 Cliqq — Air21 by RoadBike Philippines (right) receives support from El Joshua Cariño of the Philippine Navy en route to a 1-2 finish in the second lap of the Ronda race on Saturday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

JORDAN, Guimaras — Filipino riders made their move in Stage Two of the LBC — Ronda Pilipinas 2019 on Saturday, sweeping the Top Three of the 101.8-kilometer race after a Spanish entry surprised them at the first lap the other day.

Birthday boy Marcelo Felipe of 7/11 Cliqq — Air21 by RoadBike Philippines won the shortest stage in two hours, 40 minutes and 19 seconds, outsprinting second and third placers El Joshua Cariño (2:40:19) of Philippine Navy — Standard Insurance and Jonel Carcueva (2:40:23) of Go For Gold.

But it didn’t come easy as the Filipino trio had to break away from a large 72-man peloton. They were behind the three-man group of Navy’s Junrey Navarra, Team Franzia’s Ryan Tugawin and Go For Gold’s Ishmael Grospe which led for the most parts of the race.

Gaining momentum, the three cyclists then seized the driver seat 25 kilometers into the Provincial Capitol finish line before Felipe and Cariño went full swing and left Carcueva behind in the last 10 kilometers.

The last 10 kilometers became a two-man race with the 7/11 bet winning just by a hairline.

There was nothing more satisfying for Felipel, though, other than the stage podium sweep of the Filipinos in the Mango Capital of the Philippines.

“El Joshua, Jonel and I had it planned once we took the lead. We agreed to help one another — even if we’re from different clubs — just to secure this stage win for the Filipinos,” said the Nueva Ecija pride Felipe who turned 29-years old.

“The peloton was just behind us and we’re racing against the wind. That’s why we decided to work together because if we didn’t, we would have been caught in the front. After all, we’re all Filipinos and that’s all that mattered with this win.”

Daeyeong Joo of Team Korail from Korea and reigning champion Ronald Oranza of Philippine Navy finished at fourth and fifth places, respectively, with identical times of 2:40:33.

Completing the top 10 Stage Two finishers were former back-to-back Ronda winner Jan Paul Morales of Navy, Mohd Harrif Saleh of Terengganu TSG cyling team form Malaysia, Jamalidin Novardianto of PGN team from Indonesia, Kangeun Joo of Korail and Arjay Peralta of 7/11.

Runaway Stage One winner Francisco Mancebo Peréz, meanwhile, finished at 19th place (2:40:39).

Peréz kept the red jersey as overall leader.