PAGCOR riders rebound in Larrazabal bikefest

ORMOC CITY - Learning some painful lessons in the first day, the PAGCOR-Casino Filipino-All pro-supported Trade team made sure never to commit the same mistakes again by showing total dominance in the penultimate stage of the 5th Terry Larrazabal Bike Festival's Tour de Leyte yesterday here.

Pedalling a total of 145 kilometers from Ormoc to Palo, Leyte, it was the trade team's skipper Victor Espiritu who first arrived at the MacArthur's Park, where the finish line is, to handily claim the stage III top honors in three hours and 45.16 minutes.

As action reached barangay Villa in Baybay, Leyte, Espiritu went to the front as Lloyd Renante trails. This happened after Merculio Ramos conquered the mountain stage.

Espiritu and Reynante then broke away and never looked back while their teammates made sure Cebuano Robert Villaver of Pryce Pharma won't be able to spoil their day again.

The stage victory of Espiritu also paved the way for Reynante to grab the overall team standing, clocking a total of six hours, three minutes and 16.63 seconds, to relegate Villaver to second place.

"It's mine! Ako na ang overall bukas," Reynante, after seeing the gap between him and closest pursuer Villaver going into the final round this afternoon at the airport area here.

Villaver dropped to second with 6:04:20.17 as Espiritu zoomed to third place with 6:05:01.82.

Another Pryce Pharma rider Jovanni Delica also from Cebu, stands fourth with 6:06:19.04 while Ramos got the fifth spot in 6:06:31.82.

The sixth to tenth placers in the elite battle were Albert Primero (6:06:57.12), RP squad's Erick Feliciano (6:07:06.23), Kennedy Ginoo (6:07:09.74), Sherwin Carrera (6:09:22.95) and Pryce Pharma's Nilo Barbalose (6:22:13.40).

The Trade team also had something else to celebrate yesterday with Reynante and Ramos winning the two special awards.

Ramos emerged as the King of the Mountain (KOM) over teammate Carrera despite having the same points after the former won the Stage 3 action.

On the other hand, Reynante may have missed the KOM, but he established himself as the Sprint King with 13 points.

In the other classes, Ernesto Hortaleza posted a back-to-back victory after dominating anew the stage 3 under the master II category while Rolando Pagnanawon ended second and Ruel Endrano settled for third.

In masters I, it was Anthony Dee, who got the top post, beating the Noy Jopson while Dexter Lapuz was third.

The combined junior-senior class had Felomino Amago on top while Norberto Daa, who was moved to the said class after riding in the master's I during the first day, came out second and Rene Amarilo was third.

Before the final battle of the TdL takes place, the cross-country enthusiasts will be taking away the spotlight as they vie for the top honors in their respective divisions.

RP team member Eusebio Quiñones is looking for a grand slam finish, but the road to success will not be easy for him with the presence of Niño Surban, Hilario Ladra and Erick Feliciano.