Priest beats Pineda, Lapid

CABANATUAN – A sprint king gunning for his first crown and a former champion trying to relive his glory days grabbed the spotlight in Stage 2 of the 2007 Padyak Summer Showdown marred by a late four-man spill here yesterday.

Bacchus captain Ericson Obosa, a surprise third placer last year, streaked out of a huge 25-man group in the last 500 meters and edged Baler Ravina of Cool Pap and Victor Espiritu at the finish by a tenth of a second to pocket the lap honors in 2:09.16.07.

Espiritu, who ruled the Tour 11 years ago on his rookie year, took the yellow jersey from prologue winner Frederick Feliciano of Team Vellum with an overall time of 2:53.17, barely four seconds ahead of the first day leader.

Obosa, a 27-year-old Manaoag, Pangasinan native and 2006 Sprint King, thus won for the second straight time in this city situated at the center of this province known as the country’s rice granary.

“I was just staying behind Arnel Quirimit and Victor Espiritu when they tried to break loose from the group with a kilometer to go,” said Obosa in Filipino. “I made my move in the final 500 meters. I think I was a bit lucky,” he added.

Ravina came in second, barely ahead of Espiritu and 22 others including Lloyd Reynante of Air21, Emelito Atilano of Cargohaus and Merculio Ramos of U-Freight, who figured in a spill in the final turn on their way to the finish line at the Freedom Park.

Reynante, in fact, suffered contusions on his right lower leg that might slow him down in this 10-stage event organized by Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. and presented by Tanduay in cooperation with Wow Magic Sing and Air21.

“It’s just a scratch,  and I don’t think it will affect me,” said Reynante.

All 25 will be credited the same time as that of Obosa based on a particular UCI rule.

“Under the UCI rule, a rider or riders who figured in a spill, or had a flat tire, or a mechanical trouble in the last three kilometers are given the same time as his other groupmates before it happened,” said Tour assistant commisar 1 Lorenzo Lomibao.

Feliciano, a native of Aliaga town located 10 kilometers from this capital, said he was actually relieved of the pressure of wearing the yellow jersey although he admitted he struggled against the best in the fold.

Feliciano timed 3.55 minutes in Stage 1 at the Mall of Asia grounds. He was among those who arrived in the big 25-man group.

Espiritu finished four seconds off the pace in Stage 1 but tour organizers rectified some errors in recording the time, saying the former champ clocked almost the same time as Feliciano, who ruled the flat, short opening lap by just tenths of a second.

Espiritu also gained a bonus of four seconds for officially finishing third. The top three finishers in each lap get 10, 6 and four seconds, respectively.

Also finishing with the main pack were defending champion Santy Barnachea of Team Champion and teammate Enrique Dominguez, Quirimit, Reynaldo Navarro and Joel Duenas of Mail and More, Niño Jasul, Michael Reyes and Renato Sambrano of Cossack Vodka.

, Fernando Alagano of Air21, Dante Cagas of Bacchus, Eusebio Quinones and Rey Martin of Vellum, Joel Calderon, Jay Tolentino and Sherwin Carrera of Caltex, Alvin Benosa of U-Freight, Bernard Luzon of Cool Pap and Harvey Sicam of Wow Magic Sing.

Rounding up the top 10 in the overall individual standing were Feliciano (2:53.21.090), Obosa (2:53.21.750), Benosa (2:53.22.201), Barnachea (2:53.23.632), Quirimit (2:53.23.910), Reynante (2:53.25.191), Carrera (2:53.25.972), Atilano (2:53.29.352) and Ravina (2:53.29.60).

Stage 3 resumes today, a 166-km trek from Talavera and Zaragoza in Nueva Ecija, to Lapaz, Santa Ignacia and Camiling and San Clemente in Tarlac, and Mangatarem, Aguilar, Bugallon, Sual and Alaminos in Pangasinan.