Killer stages to decide Calderon fate

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur, Philippines – Nueva Ecija Mileage skipper Joel Calderon braces for what he said as his do-or-die bid for cycling glory as the LBC Ronda Pilipinas resumes today with the tough Vigan-Benguet run, the first of two punishing stages tipped to decide this year’s champion.

The 181.4 km race from this humid heritage city to the cold mountains of Benguet via the Naguilian Road in Baguio City serves as the tour’s ninth leg – a crucial one for Calderon and his chief rivals for the top P1 million prize.

“The Baguio ascents will decide everything,” said Calderon, who has held on to the overall lead for six straight stages since grabbing the red jersey in the Iloilo-Caticlan Stage Three last Sept. 28, in Filipino.

The 94 survivors will descend to Agoo, La Union tomorrow where they will be flagged off in the short but equally tough 46.4 km Stage 10 to Baguio via the Aspiras Highway, formerly Marcos Highway.

“I don’t know what will happen or what game plan I will use but I know it will be really tough,” added the 30-year-old Guimba, Nueva Ecija native, hoping to duplicate his victory in the same stage in the 2009 edition which propelled him to the Tour championship.

After eight stages, Calderon pooled an aggregate clocking of 25:25:13 clocking, just 14 seconds ahead of George Oconer of the Phl Under-23 team (25:25:27) with Irish Valenzuela of 7-Eleven lurking in third with 25:26:49 clocking.

Rounding up the Top 10 are American Vinyl’s Rudy Roque (25:27:37), former two-time champion Santy Barnachea (22:28:27) of Eastern Pangasinan, former Tour winner Arnel Quirimit (25:30:55) of Central and Western Pangasinan, Bicol’s Alvin Benosa (25:31:27), Eastern Pangasinan’s Baler Ravina (25:32:34), American Vinyl skipper Cris Joven (25:32:50) and the National Capital Region’s Warren Davadilla (25:32:57).

Davadilla barged into the top 10 by finishing second in the San Fernando, La Union-Vigan Stage Eight behind Sherwin Diamsay of Tarlac, dislodging 7-Eleven skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante to No. 11 with 25:33:07 ahead of NCR’s Frederick Feliciano (25:33:18) and Cebu’s Jay Bop Pagnanawon (25:33:40).

Like the rest of the big guns, Oconer, the Rudy Project Young Rider leader, and Valenzuela, who currently paces the Magnolia Purewater King of the Mountain and Air Asia Sprint divisions, are looking forward to the next two stages but, like Calderon, do not really know what to expect.

“My plan is to just try to pace myself by sticking to the other contenders and we’ll see what happens in Baguio,” said the 19-year-old Oconer.

“I’ve been saying this from the start, the real race starts in the Baguio stages and we will know the champion after the two climbs,” said the 24-year-old Valenzuela, who already won a lap (Stage Four) while turning in a pair of runner-up finishes in Stages Three and Five.

The ninth stage is the real back-breaker of a lap since it combines a stretch of 150 kms of flat, bumpy road before the difficult ascents covering over 30 kms of 7-14-percent grade ascending and winding road of the old Naguilian Road.

In Stage 10, they will tackle the 25 km stretch ascent in the highway formerly named after the late President where past Tour champions were crowned.

“It’s always in the Baguio stages that Tour champions were crowned,” said American Vinyl coach Renato Dolosa, a two-time Marlboro Tour champion.

“Barring mechanical problems like flat tires or some unforeseen incidents, our American Vinyl team has a good chance,” he added.

Dolosa’s American Vinyl team, incidentally, is seeking to regain the team title it last snared in 2009 as it leads the overall team category with an aggregate time of 76:26:54 ahead of 7-Eleven (76:32:23), Nueva Ecija (76:40:03), NCR Standard (76:47:25), Western and Central Pangasinan (76:49:59), Tarlac (76:50:18), Cebu (76:52:37), Bicolandia (76:56:49), Eastern Pangasinan (77:01:32) and hometown team Ilocos Sur (77:15:41).

The 12-leg, 20-day event is staking a total cash pot of P7 million with the individual and team champions receiving P1 million apiece courtesy of main sponsor LBC Hari ng Padala and backers Rudy Project, Air Asia.com, Magnolia Purewater, Versa two-way radios and Starlite Ferries, Inc. with The Philippine STAR, C! and AKTV as media partners.