Joven grabs early lead in Ronda

SILANG, Cavite—A perennial contender from Iriga City, an unheralded rider from Mindanao and a Frenchman powerclimber came through with the worthiest performance on Sunday to emerge atop the 181.8-kilometer Stage Two that started in Muntinlupa City and ended at the Premier Plaza Mall along the Emilio Aguinaldo Highway here.

Cris Joven, who has finished in the top 10 in the first three Ronda editions, showed his true intention in this lap as he roared to victory in four hours 58 minutes and 46 seconds that catapulted him to the overall lead with a total time of 6:67.37.

“This is a little special for me because I’ve never won a lap last year,” said the 27-year-old Joven, who won a total of four laps in the first two stagings before ending up with only a second place effort and a pair of third place finishes last year, in Filipino.

While everyone shies away from the leader’s jersey, the proud son of Iriga said he is not afraid to wear it.

“I’m not going to be hypocrite and say I don’t want this. The truth is, I’ve been wanting to win it all and I’ve prepared hard this year and will try to go for it,” said Joven, who received his lap win worth a cool P50,000 from host Silang Mayor Emilia Lourdes Poblete.

Reimon Lapaza, who hails from Davao City, came through with the ride of his life as he recorded his best finish to date in Ronda by ending up second in 4:59.14, which also sent him straight to second overall or four seconds behind Joven with 6:67.41.

“I blew my chance of making the top three yesterday (Saturday) so I did my best not to lose this again,” said the 25-year-old Lapaza, whose fifth place finish in the Quezon City Memorial Circle Stage One criterium also surpassed his previous efforts in the first three editions where he managed no better than sixth place.

Peter Pouly, skippering Infinite-Singha, checked in at third in 4:59.48 but  he topped both climbs to emerge the new King of the Mountain leader.

“It was a tough stage, just glad I survived it,” said Pouly, who towed Joven and Lapaza in the breakaway group in the ascent before allowing the latter two to outsprint him in the final stretch.

Daiki Yasuhara of Japan’s Matrix Powertag came in fourth in 5:02.40, Ronald Oranza of PLDT Maynilad fifth in 5:02.49 and Merculio Ramos of Cycline-Butuan Mindanao sixth in 5:02.49, Joel Calderon of Navy-Standard Insurance and Oscare Rindole of Cebu-Kalit Air Force seventh and eight in 5:02.51.

Santy Barnachea of Navy-Standard and Irish Valenzuela of Army, the first and third editions champions, wound up at Nos. 9 and 10 in 5:02.54 and 5:03.56, respectively.

Interestingly, the top 10 placers in this lap also comprised the top 10 in the overall leaderboard of this race presented by LBC, the largest courier and cargo company and sponsored MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, NLEX, Maynilad, PLDT and Mitsubishi, Versa 2 Way Radio and Standard Insurance and minor sponsor Air Asia Zest, sanctioned by PhilCycling and backed by Shimano and Cannondale bikes, the Department of Tourism and Phl National Police chief Allan Purisima.