Galedo new overall leader

ANTIPOLO, Philippines – Former Tour of Luzon champion Mark John Lexer Galedo of Road Bike stuck with eventual Stage Nine winner Irish Valenzuela of American Vinyl-LPGMA from start to finish to jump from out of nowhere into the overall lead in the second LBC Ronda Pilipinas that started in Lucena City, Quezon and ended on this mountaintop city yesterday.

After sliding down to No. 10 after a dismal effort in the Daet-Lucena Stage Eight Saturday, the 26-year-old Galedo bounced back strong with a gutsy performance that saw him check in at the same time with the 25-year-old Valenzuela in three hours, 58 minutes, 39 seconds.

Valenzuela, however, edged Galedo at the finish before a wildly cheering crowd in front of the Rizal Provincial Capitol and the Ynares Center.

Army-RC Cola’s 19-year-old rider John Rene Mier, formerly of Phl Under-23, wound up at third in 3:59.52.

It was Valenzuela’s second straight podium finish after finishing second behind One Tarlac’s Sherwin Diamsay in the 209.2km Daet-Lucena Stage Seven that hiked his winnings to P75,000 and earned him a 10-second bonus deduction and made the local crowd happy.

“I want to win here because I know people want me to win this stage because I usually train here,” said Valenzuela, from Tabaco, Albay, in Filipino.

After topping the stage, his father, Kiko came inside the awarding area, parked his bike near the media tent then hugged his son.

“I cried when I saw him because I haven’t seen my father for over a month now because I was busy training for this event,” said Valenzuela.

The day, however, belonged to Galedo, whose performance catapulted him from No. 10 to the top after amassing a total time of 36:53.58 ahead of darkhorse Harvey Sicam of East Pangasinan, who also moved from No. 7 to No. 2 with 36:53.58, just 16 seconds off Galedo.

Unlike Stage 8 leader Cris Joven, who tumbled down to No. 8 after a crash, Galedo hopes to keep the red jersey in today’s relatively flat, 120km Stage 10 starting in San Fernando, Pampanga and ending in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

Joven took a spill in Tiaong, Quezon after jumping off the railroad tracks, sustaining a big cut in his left hip. But he went on and finished in the middle of the pack.

For the second straight day, there was a major shake up in the leaderboard with the big guns headed by Navy A-Standard’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante and Santy Barnachea, the reigning Ronda titlist, wheeling back into contention.

Reynante, 33, took the No. 3 spot from No. 9 with 36:55.21 while Barnachea, 36, leapt from No. 13 to No. 6 with a 36:57.43 clocking, or just about a little over four minutes off the pace.

Former leader Baler Ravina recovered from No. 18 to No. 7 with 36:58.12, seconds ahead of overnight leader Joven of American Vinyl-LPGMA, who slid down to No. 8 with 36:58.12.

RONDA NOTES: Former two-time Tour winner Manuel “Maui” Reynante, who is vacationing in the country after migrating to the US in early 1990s, was at the finish line to surprise his son, Lloyd, who didn’t disappoint him by bouncing back to title contention...Two more riders, South Luzon Bicol’s Dino Hipolito and Phl Under-23’s Gerald Mendoza failed to finish the lap, trimming the participants down to 75 from the original 96.