Oranza finishes eighth in Asian Cycling Championship trials

MANILA, Philippines – Ronald Oranza of LBC Cycling Pilipinas showed solid form and finished a solid eighth out of 23 participants in the 28.4-kilometer individual time trial of the Asian Cycling Championship in New Delhi, India the other day.

Oranza, 20, clocked in at 36 minutes and 59.199 seconds, which was good for eighth place or over two and half minutes behind eventual winner Daniil Fominyk of Kazakhstan, who checked in with a blazing time of 34:27.855.

Oranza, who finished a surprise third in last month's Ronda Pilipinas 2013 while steering the PLDT-Spyder squad to a solid third in the overall team race, hopes to do better as he and Rustom Lim join tomorrow’s 140-km road race for under-23 riders.

"It’s a tough race, the individual time trial, because the best in Asia have competed," said Chris Allison, the American coach of LBC Cycling Pilipinas, which has partnered with the MVP Sports Foundation.

"Our goal is always to win but finishing eighth out of 23 participants is really not bad. We're very hopeful in the road race," he added.

Finishing in the podium were Vietnam's Trinh Duc Tam and Korea's Kim Jaeyeon, who timed in 34:37.079 and 35:27.195, for second and third places, respectively.

Japan's Genki Yamamoto (36.09.960), Iraq's Al Sammaraie (36:15.034), Hong Kong's King Lok Cheung (36:23.798) and Uzbekistan's Denis Shaymanov (36:52.438) were the other cyclists who finished ahead of Oranza.

Actually, Oranza was being eyed to represent the country in the 200-km road race for elite riders while Lim in the U-23 side but ended up joining the youth race.

"We're proud of the team and we will support them all the way," said LBC Cycling Pilipinas team manager Moe Chulani.