LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – Road Bike’s Baler Ravina braces for a tough grind coming off a break as the second LBC Ronda Pilipinas heads to the Luzon stretch beginning today with the 115-km Stage 7 from here to Naga City.
Ravina vows to thwart his pursuers as he seeks to keep the red jersey for the fifth day, his confidence boosted by his solid showing in Stage 6 where he finished a strong eighth and padded his lead from 30 seconds to 59.
“I need to re-energize because we’re approaching the tougher stages in Luzon,” said Ravina in Filipino before the Ronda caravan left Calbayog, Samar.
Ravina, who ruled the four-stage Le Tour in Luzon last April, has made the right moves since snatching the leader’s jersey from One Tarlac’s Tomas Martinez following his victory in the 277-km Tagum-Butuan Stage Three, the Ronda’s longest lap.
Last Tuesday, Ravina bravely stayed with the breakaway group to turn in a top 10 finish in the 170km Tacloban-Calbayog Stage Six to keep the overall individual lead with an aggregate time of 24 hours, 53 minutes, 59 seconds.
The former three-time King of the Mountain winner, however, expects a renewed challenge from a slew of rivals, including One Tarlac’s Joseph Millanes, V-Mobile’s Oscar Rindole and LPGMA-American Vinyl’s Cris Joven and V-Mobile’s Rey Martin, who trail him by just a minute or two.
Twenty other riders, including last year’s inaugural champion Santy Barnachea of Navy A-Standard, 2011 Tour king and last year’s second placer Joel Calderon of V-Mobile, last year’s third placer George Oconer of Phl Under-23 and even former 2003 titlist Arnel Quirimit of West-Central Pangasinan, are also in contention for the P1 million prize as they trail Ravina by just less than 10 minutes barely halfway through the 15-stage event.
The others are Metro Manila’s Ronald Gorantes, One Tarlac’s Tomas Martinez, Road Bike’s Mark Galedo, Mindanao’s Dexter Nonato, West-Central Pangasinan’s Reynaldo Navarro, Phl Under-23’s Julius Mark Bonzo, East Pangasinan’s Harvey Sicam, Navy A-Standard’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante, Mindanao’s Jay Tolentino, Navy A-Standard’s Eusebio Quinones, Army-RC Cola’s Alvin Benosa, Navy B-San Miguel’s Reinhard Gorantes, V-Mobile’s Alfredo Asuncion, and Army-RC Cola’s Arnold Marcelo.
“They’re all watching me and I’m expecting them to make their move anytime soon so I just have to be ready,” said Ravina.
And experts see a shakeup in the next three stages, including the 209.2km Daet-Naga Stage 8 featuring a Category 2 climb in the Tatlong Eme or Bitukang Manok in Atimonan, Quezon.
It is considered as one of the most difficult laps in the tour presented by LBC Express, Inc. with the dreaded 96.7km Lingayen-Baguio Stage 12 billed as the toughest for its killer horse category climb, the highest of all ascents, in Aspiras Highway, formerly Marcos Highway.
“Those stages will make or break a campaign, we’ll know who still wears the red jersey after those two stages,” said Calderon, who won in 2010 and lost the following year via that Baguio climb.
In the team race, the Calderon-skippered V-Mobile has been lording it over from the start with 73:54.58 but its lead was trimmed down to just seven seconds no thanks to the surprise resurgence by One Tarlac, which has73:55.04, in Stage Six.
Likewise in team contention were Road Bike (73:56.30), Mindanao (73:57.33), Metro Manila (73:57.48), Navy A-Standard (73:57.57), West-Central Pangasinan (74:03.42), LPGMA-American Vinyl (74:09.41), Army-RC Cola (74:10.19) and RP Under-23 (74:25.02).
The Ronda caravan took advantage of the whole day-off after a couple of hours of sea travel and the same number by land from Sorsogon to Legazpi, Albay where Stage Seven is unfurling with the breathtaking Mayon Volcano as its backdrop.
RONDA NOTES: There are many second generation riders who are competing in this year’s tour, headed by Phl Under-23’s Julius Mark Bonzo, son of the late Romeo Bonzo, the 1984 Tour King and nephew of 1976 titlist Modesto Bonzo. The 22-year-old 2009 Young Rider awardee is currently at 11th overall and just four and a half minutes off the pace...The other sons of former Tour champions are Y101FM-Cebu’s Jaybop Pagnanawon, son of 1986 Tour champ Rolando, Navy’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante, son 1980 winner Manuel, and, of course, RP Under-23’s George Oconer, son of two-time Olympian Norberto.