Calderon clings to LBC Ronda lead

CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines  – Nueva Ecija’s Joel Calderon withstood the charge of his pursuers and remained in control even as 7-Eleven’s Irish Valenzuela snatched stage honors from Bicol’s Alvin Benosa in the out-and-back Stage Four of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas here yesterday.

Valenzuela, who blew his bid for a win in Stage Three, pounced on Benosa’s misfortune in the final 800 meters to rule the 86.7km race that passed through the popular tourist destination of Puerto Galera and ended on a hilltop in the outskirts of the city.

The stage was originally set at 93.7kms but race officials decided to extend the neutral zone to seven kms to avoid one sharp turn near the city proper.

Valenzuela, the 24-year-old Tabaco, Albay native, clocked two hours, four minutes, 35.2 seconds to beat Benosa, who suffered a flat tire in the closing stretch, and Pangasinan’s Renato Sambrano, who checked in at second and third in 2:04:36.0 and 2:04:36.7, respectively. He took the stage purse worth P50,000.

Valenzuela, who topped the Tour of Camsur early this year and pocketed P1 million, thus upped his earnings to P75,000 after a runner-up finish to 7-Eleven skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante in last Wednesday’s Iloilo-Caticlan Stage Three where he led majority of the way only to fade out in the end.

This time, however, Valenzuela hung tough.

“In Stage Three I led most of the way but finished only second,” said the 2008 Manila-Baguio race winner who also finished second overall to 2006 Tour champion Santy Barnachea in his rookie season, in Filipino.

“I tried to stay close to the lead pack and waited for an opportunity to come. When it came, I took advantage it,” he added.

It came in the final 800m when the 31-year-old Benosa, from Iriga, Camarines Sur, suffered a flat rear tire that slowed him down in the mad dash to the finish, enabling Valenzuela to scoot home to victory.

“I was leading all the way before that flat tire,” rued Benosa. “Maybe I’ll try again in the next stages, I hope I get a little bit lucky next time.”

Valenzuela’s effort propelled him to fourth overall from seventh in the individual standings with a total time of 16:26:04, a little over two minutes behind Calderon, who held on to the lead with a four-stage clocking of 16:23:57.

Youthful George Oconer of the Phl Under-23 team gained 16 seconds on Calderon with an aggregate time of 16:24:31 heading into Stage Five of the event sponsored by LBC Express Inc., the leading courier firm, and backed by Rudy Project.

“I was just trying to be with the leader and hoping for an opening but they’re really strong,” said the 19-year-old Oconer, a student at Kalayaan National High School in Caloocan.

Calderon, however, found the route’s super-sharp bends too risky for even the highly skilled cyclists.

“The route has many razor-sharp curves, very critical and dangerous to the cyclists,” said Calderon.

It actually claimed a victim in Southern Tagalog’s Alexie Camerino, who crashed and suffered minor contusions and abrasions on his left shoulder and right thigh while tackling one of the curves. He, however, fought back and finished the race.

American Vinyl’s Rudy Roque remained in third overall with a 16:25:08 while Barnachea, the 2002 and 2006 champion, fell from No. 4 to No. 5 in 16:26:31.

Rounding up the top 10 are former two-time winner Arnel Quirimit of Pangasinan (16:28:12), Benosa (16:28:50), Cris Joven of American Vinyl (16:28:50), Jay Bop Pagnanawon of Cebu (16:29:21) and another two-time titlist Warren Davadilla of the National Capital Region (16:30:27).

American Vinyl stayed atop of the heap in the team race with an aggregate time of 49:19:28.28 followed by 7-Eleven (49:28:28.38) and the Calderon-skippered Nueva Ecija squad (49:34:00).

Stage Five is set today with the riders disputing top honors in the shortest lap, from Batangas to Tagaytay City (59.7 kms), in the 12-leg, 20-day race event which stakes a total prize fund of P7 million with the individual and team champions getting P1 million each.

The lead pack lost its way in the traffic city proper or the final stretch of the race as directional signs earlier installed were removed from the site.

“We got lost in the final stretch, some of us took a wrong turn because we didn’t see any sign or marshall in that part of the route,” said Reynante, currently way behind at 11th overall with 16:30:39 clocking.