New leader Irish hopes luck will last

CEBU CITY, Philippines – LPGMA-American Vinyl’s Irish Valenzuela vaulted from No. 7 to the overall lead with a scintillating run yesterday, finishing second to El Joshua Carino of PLDT-Spyder and grabbing the red jersey from Santy Barnachea in Stage Five of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2013 that started in Lapu Lapu City and ended on a mountain top park in Brgy. Busay here.

After several failed bids to snatch the symbolic LBC jersey from Barnachea, Valenzuela finally succeeded as he turned in a four-hour, 37-minute, 41-second clocking to finish behind the 19-year-old Carino’s 4:34.55 effort over the 156.8-km race.

While Carino celebrated his first-ever stage triumph with a fist-pumping move at the finish at the Mountain View Nature Park that gives a panoramic view of practically the whole city, Valenzuela simply sat on the winner’s tent shedding tears of joy.

“I cried because I’m happy,” said Valenzuela from Tabaco, Albay, still in search of the big one after Roadbike Phl’s Mark Galedo denied him of the coveted crown last year.

“There’s nothing to celebrate yet but I’m really glad I’m on top going into the Luzon stages,” said Valenzuela, who also thanked his LPGMA-American Vinyl bosses Arnel Ty and Eric Sy for their support.

Valenzuela, a noted mountain climber being the 2008 Manila-Baguio race champion and the King of the Mountain winner in the first two Ronda editions, said it will all be hard work as he tries to keep the lead in the 128.3-km Malolos-Tarlac Stage Six tomorrow.

After towing the early breakaway 25-man group, Valenzuela, Carino, Tapic and Ronald Oranza, another PLDT-Spyder bet, made their move as they made their climb in the last 20-km, considered the second toughest lap of the Ronda next to the Bayombong-Baguio Stage 14.

Carino, who hails from Mangaldan, Pangasinan, however, upstaged the fancied bets as he beat Valenzuela and a horde of veteran campaigners for lap honors.

Carino, who made it to the LBC Express, Inc.-bankrolled PLDT-Spyder national youth team by finishing among the top 25 last year, then raised both fists to celebrate his breakthrough win at Cebu’s summit.

Valenzuela came next, just a little less than three minutes behind.

Tapic, a local bet, made the whole city and province proud as he came in third in 4:39.21 for his first podium finish ever while Oranza, a 21-year-old rider from Villasis, Pangasinan, checked in next in 4:39.39.

Barnachea, who had held the overall lead the last two laps, got stuck in the main group after suffering a busted tire and mechanical trouble, tumbling down to No. 7 with a clocking of 18:26.19, now over five minutes off the pace.

Like Valenzuela, Carino, Oranza and Tapic also made significant strides as they took the Nos. 2, 3 and 8 spots with clockings of 18:22.48, 18:23.10 and 18:29.42, respectively.

“I’m happy my hard work is paying off,” said Carino, member of the LBC-backed national under-23 team mentored by American Chris Allison that trained and competed for six months locally and internationally.

“This is a nice feeling because this is my best performance ever and I did it before my fellow Cebuanos,” said Tapic.

VMobile-Smart’s Joel Calderon, the 2009 Tour king and the second edition runner-up last year, finished fifth in the lap and leapt from No. 9 to No. 4 in 18:24.41 ahead of LPGMA-American Vinyl’s Cris Joven (18:25.52), Roadbike Phls’ Rondal Gorantes (18:26.03), Team Tarlac’s Merculio Ramos (18:30.47) and VMobile-Smart’s Marcelo Felipe (18:30.50).

Carino and Oranza’s PLDT-Spyder team also gained as it zoomed to the overall team lead in 55:20.19 over VMobile-Smart (55:23.19).

Barnachea’s Navy-Standard squad also slid to No. 3 in 55:26.06 in the race sponsored by LBC Express, Inc., the country’s leading courier firm, and backed by Total, the MVP Sports Foundation, Jinbei Auto, Smart, Icom iDAS, Standard Insurance, Maynilad and NLEX.