Barnachea is millionaire king

MANILA, Philippines - Eastern Pangasinan’s Santy Barnachea turned the short, rain-soaked 41.4km Stage 12 of LBC Ronda Pilipinas into a victory ride, keeping his chief rivals in check to secure the tour crown worth P1 million at the Luneta Grandstand yesterday.

Barnachea, who wrested the overall lead in the tough Vigan-Baguio Stage 9 and held on to a six-minute margin in the last three legs, wound up in 62nd place after nine laps around the slippery Roxas Blvd. with a 38.15-minute clocking, just behind chief rival Joel Calderon of Nueva Ecija, who ended up 51st with a 37.5-minute effort.

After 12 grueling stages spread over more than 2,000 kms of paved and rough roads plus some killer ascents where the entourage had to buck scorching heat, strong wind and heavy rains spawned by three typhoons, Barnachea came out triumphant with a total time of 36 hours, 57 minutes, 47 seconds.

He bested the 31-year-old Calderon, who pooled a 37:03:52 clocking in a race he led majority of the way only to fade out in the punishing Vigan-Baguio stage.

“I will save this for the education of my children,” said Barnachea, who had his four-year-old daughter Princess on his right shoulder and his seven-year-old son Darren with wife Michelle when he received the biggest purse ever staked in local cycling.

At 35, Barnachea, a native of Umingan, Pangasinan, also became one of the oldest winners of the tour and one of the very few to have won the crown without winning a single lap.

The LBC Ronda title was also his third crown, counting the two others he won in other tours, thus matching Antonio Arzala’s three victories in 1955, 1956 and 1959, which were, however, fashioned out in one cycling event.

The newly crowned champion also vowed to be back next year as he tries to cement his place as one of the best riders in local cycling history.

“This was supposed to be my last tour but my coach told me to ride one more time next year,” said Barnachea, referring to his long-time mentor Johnny Borja. “ I will race one more year and maybe try to win a fourth title.”

Calderon, the 2009 winner who led in a six- stage stretch before fading out in the fateful Vigan-Baguio run, took the P500,000 runner-up prize, more than what other winners received in past tour editions.

Phl Under-23’s George Oconer, 19, finished third in 37:04:00 and received P250,000. He also won P100,000 for copping the Rudy Project Best Young Rider title and the Air Asia Sprint King crown.

“I’m happy to finish the race, much more place in the top three, I’m really proud of my performance,” said Oconer, who edged 7-Eleven’s Irish Valenzuela for the sprint king plum.

Valenzuela, however, won the Magnolia Purewater King of the Mountain title.

Rounding up the Top 10 were Cycleline Extreme-Butuan City’s March Mcquinn Aleonar (37:04:35), 7-Eleven’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante (37:05:28), Eastern Pangasinan’s Baler Ravina (37:05:56), American Vinyl’s Cris Joven (37:08:34), Tarlac’s Tomas Martinez (37:09:55), American Vinyl’s Rudy Roque (37:10:50) and Nueva Ecija’s Rey Martin (37:12:26), who received P125,000, P100,000, P90,000, P80,000, P70,000, P60,000 and P50,000, respectively.

American Vinyl, meanwhile, bagged the team title, also worth P1 million.

Ronnel Hualda capped American Vinyl’s superb team performance by ruling the final stage, beating Oconer and 7-Eleven’s top sprinter Ericson Obosa for lap honors. The three turned in the same clocking of 37:52.

Aside from Hualda, the other members of the American Vinyl were skipper Cris Joven, Roque, Bryant Sepnio, Joseph Millanes and Edmundo Nicolas.

Mentored by two-time tour winner Renato Dolosa, American Vinyl pooled a total time of 111:03:36, besting 7-Eleven (111:15:44), Tarlac (111:22:56), Nueva Ecija (111:24:20), Eastern Pangasinan (111:48:03), Cebu (111:41:34), National Capital Region Standard (111:54:16), W&C Pangasinan-Jazy Sport (111:58:24), Ilocos Sur (112:23:52) and Bicol (112:34:43).

The second to 10th placers in the team category got P500,000, P250,000, P100,000, P90,000, P80,000, P75,000, P70,000, P65,000 and P60,000, respectively.

“We knew we’re the underdogs because we really don’t have stars in the team but we executed our game plan to the letter,” said the 45-year-old Dolosa, who now has three team titles as coach–one for Cosack Vodka in 2006 and two for American Vinyl, the first clinched in 2009.

The LBC Ronda Pilipinas put up a total prize fund of P7 million 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.