Martinez keeps lead; Joven takes Stage 2

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  – One Tarlac’s Tomas Martinez withstood severe tests from his pursuers and remained at the helm as American Vinyl’s Cris Joven outwitted 7-Eleven’s Mark John Lexer Galedo for stage honors in the second LBC Ronda Pilipinas that started in General Santos City and ended in this populous city yesterday.

Joven, who finished seventh overall in last year’s Ronda, went toe-to-toe with Galedo approaching the final 800 meters but the former outsmarted the latter by blocking his path in a mad dash to the finish to snatch the 145.1-kilometer Stage Two with a clocking of three hours, 39 minutes, 55 seconds.

For his feat, Joven, a proud son of Iriga City, pocketed P50,000 and earned a 10-second bonus time deduction that catapulted him from ninth overall going into yesterday’s lap to fourth with a total time of 8:32.11.

Joven also promised his American Vinyl teammates and some friends a bigger treat after he turned 26 Thursday.

“Last night (Thursday), I only got to treat my teammates and friends with spaghetti in Jollibee,” said the soft-spoken Joven in Filipino. “This win is a perfect birthday gift for myself so I’m treating them ice cream and cake tonight (Friday).”

At the end of the day, Martinez, a 32-year-old Air Force sergeant, will still don the red or leader’s jersey as he stuck with the 21-man peloton that checked in at 15th place in the stage with a time of 3:40.40. He holds an aggregate clocking of 8:31.31, or 11 seconds ahead of Army-RC Cola’s Alvin Benosa.

There was some confusion after the 32-year-old Benosa (8:31.42) was declared the new leader during the customary awarding ceremony to the indignation of Martinez and One Tarlac coach Loreto Mandi.

It turned out the list of results initially released was erroneous and organizers headed by Ronda race director Ric Rodriguez were quick to rectify the mistake. They promptly returned the red jersey to Martinez and Benosa, an Army corporal who is also an Iriga City native like Joven, settled for second.

“I was pointing to him (Benosa) during the awarding ceremony that it was supposed to be me, not him,” said Martinez, who zoomed to the top by topping Stage One that went in and out of General Santos the other day. 

“But everything is fine now, I’m still the leader and I hope I could keep it to the end,” he added.

Benosa, who likewise wound up with Martinez in the main group, was just too happy to jump from third to second.

“It’s okay, at least for a while I was the leader,” he said.

V-Mobile’s Oscar Rindole skidded from No. 2 to No. 3 in 8:31.45 while Galedo emerged the biggest gainer as he jumped from No. 13 in Stage One to No. 5 with a time of 8:32.25.

Meanwhile, Arnel Quirimit, 36, of West and Central Pangasinan defied time by finishing fifth in the stage to leapfrog from No. 14 to No. 6 overall in 8:32.38.

“I know I still have it because I still feel good and trained well. I can still race maybe for two more years,” said Quirimit, the 2003 Tour champion.

Like Quirimit, another ageless warrior Warren Davadilla, the only cyclist to win a title in the fabled Marlboro Tour in its last staging in 1998 and the modern era in 2005, made his move and finished seventh in the stage to get out of 95th among 96 riders to 64th.

One Tarlac’s Daniel Asto (8:32.53) and Joseph Millanes (8:33.00), V-Mobile’s Rey Martin (8:33.01) and Navy B-San Miguel’s Reinhard Gorantes (8:33.02) rounded up the top 10.

Navy A-Standard’s Santy Barnachea, who is seeking an unprecedented fourth Tour title, appeared to be biding his time, being at No. 19 with a time of 8:33.51 or just 2:20 off the pace.

And so were V-Mobile’s Joel Calderon and Phl Under-23’s George Oconer, the second and third placers last year, as they’re currently in No. 23 and No. 24, less than four minutes behind Martinez.

Making it to the top 20 are V-Mobile’s Nicardo Guanzon (8:33.08), Metro Manila’s Ronald Gorantes (8:33.08), Mindanao’s Dexter Nonato (8:33.13) and Tots Oledan (8:33.26), 7-Eleven’s Baler Ravina (8:33.27), East Pangasinan’s Harvey Sicam (8:33.30), Army-RC Cola’s John Rene Mier (8:33.40), West and Central Pangasinan’s Reynaldo Navarro (8:33.46) and V-Mobile’s Alfredo Asuncion (8:34.21).

East Pangasinan’s Ferdinand Pablo, Barnachea’s teammate last year who has a cleft lip, stole the some of the thunder from the favorites by finishing in the podium for the first time in his young, promising career.

“I’m happy because this is my highest finish,” said the 23-year-old Umingan, Pangasinan-based Pablo, who thanked his manager Fr. Mandy Panganiban for supporting him in this race.

In the team event, One Tarlac continued to hold sway with a total time of 24:43.46, ahead of V-Mobile (24:43.58), Army-RC Cola (24:46.32), Mindanao (24:46.48), 7-Eleven (24:47.09), Navy A-Standard (24:48.08), Metro Manila (24:48.20), West/Central Pangasinan (24:48.33), Navy B-San Miguel (24:56.03) and Y101FM-Cebu (24:59.20).

“It’s still too early but we’re glad we’re still on top,” said Mandi of his One Tarlac squad.

Riders brace for the longest lap of this 15-stage, 20-day race as they tackle the 227km that will unfurl in Tagum, which is a one-hour travel from Davao City, and run through a category 4 ascent in the mountains of Sibagat town in Butuan City.