“Better Luck Next Time”

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur – Moving time it was for former Tour champion Arnel Quirimit, who ruled the punishing 267-km Stage 4 – the longest lap in this year’s Padyak Pinoy Summer Showdown – to grab the overall lead from Victor Espiritu and spark hopes of a repeat victory in 2003.

Quirimit, a former Tour top rookie who reigned supreme four years ago, clocked six hours, 41 minutes and 5.43 seconds to clinch his first lap victory over a combination of rough and flat roads in a race that started from the coastal city of Alaminos and concluded in this heritage city.

“My real plan is to get this lap and take the overall lead before the Baguio climb,” said Mail & More’s Quirimit, an Army sergeant, in Filipino. “I want this because I was leading going to Baguio when I won my only title.”

Cool Pap’s Baler Ravina, an up-and-coming rider tipped to contend for this year’s crown, came in a minute and 41.43 seconds behind Quirimit while Prologue winner Frederick Feliciano, Vellum’s skipper, checked in 10 seconds later to post another podium finish and make it back to the top three.

Overall, Quirimit assembled a 13:24.00, 1:52 in front of Ravina and 2:12 over Feliciano.

Wow Magic Sing’s Espiritu, who took the overall lead after topping Stage 3, and defending champion Santy Barnachea finished in the 11-man group in 16th to 26th places.

Espiritu, who won the 1996 Tour title on his rookie year, and Barnachea failed to shake off their rivals and slid from the Nos. 1-2 spots to No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, some five minutes off the pace.

The two veteran riders, however, were unfazed.

“They just stuck with us, we couldn’t break loose,” said Espiritu in Filipino. “But I’m not worried, I have two days to rest before I make my move again.”

“It’s just five minutes,” Barnachea, a native of Umingan, Pangasinan and a Navyman, said. “For me, anything can happen when the Baguio stages start.”

Ahead of Espiritu and Barnachea in the overall standing were Cossack Vodka’s Renato Sambrano at No. 4 with 13:26.22, Cargohaus‚ Emelito Atilano at No. 5 with 13:26.54 and Cossack Vodka’s promising rider Irish Valenzuela at No. 6 with 13:26.56 in this event supported by Champion as official outfitter, Mail and More, Bacchus as official energy drink, Cossack Vodka, Vellum Cycles, Cargohaus Global Warehouse Services, Caltex, U-Freight Forwarders and SM Super Malls.

Sambrano and Valenzuela came in the four-man group that reached Vigan at fourth to eighth spots. It included Mail and More’s Reynaldo Navarro and Caltex’s Desi Hardin.

Atilano, on the other hand, and Air21’s Anthony Miranda finished in the top 10 of the same lap in this annual spectacle organized by Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. headed by Gary Cayton, managed and sanctioned by Paquito Rivas and PhilCycling chief Bert Lina.

At ninth overall was Hardin with 13:29.25 while Bacchus’ Ericson Obosa, the 2006 Sprint King and this year’s Stage 2 winner, was in 10th with 13:30.22.

Leonardo Parol, Jr. of Caltex launched the first breakaway bid right at the Sta. Barbara stretch located 47.1kms from the starting line and nearly 16kms east of Pangasinan capital Lingayen.

It was a courageous but untimely attempt as Parol faded as the 20-man group caught up with him in the outskirts of Bauang town near the borders of San Fernando, La Union.

Quirimit headed that pack along with big guns Feliciano, Sambrano and Obosa, the Quezon City to Cabanatuan City stage winner.

The group was then reduced to 19 approaching the borders of La Union and Ilocos Sur as Leonardo Lingas, Jr. of Cargohaus lost steam and drifted away.

Then it dwindled further to a 17-man group in Candon where rough, unpaved one-lane roads stretching two kilometers slowed down the riders before Quirimit unleashed a strong finishing kick into the finish line that no one could match.