Galedo firmly on top going to last two stages Kisses and somethin’ red on V-Day

CLARK, Pampanga, Philippines - – Grace, wife of Ronda Pilipinas International 2014 overall individual leader Mark Galedo, loves to have roses on Valentine’s Day. She received a red jersey instead.

Executing his battle plan to perfection, Galedo stuck with his closest pursuers all throughout the relatively flat 157-kilometer Agoo-Clark Stage 12 yesterday to cling to the solo lead and move two days away from his coronation as the first two-time winner of this annual bikathon.

Galedo, 28, checked in with the group that finished seventh in three hours, 30 minutes, 59 seconds to hang on to the symbolic leader’s jersey with an aggregate clocking of 40:21:26 going into the final two stages.

Upon reaching the finish line, Galedo was welcomed with a hug and a kiss from his lovely wife.

“I told her (Grace) I’m sorry I didn’t bring her red roses,” said Galedo, the second edition Ronda champion and Southeast Asian Games gold medallist in Myanmar, in Filipino.

“I gave her my red jersey instead as my Valentine’s Day gift,” he added.

And Galedo plans to keep it when the race winds up from Clark to Subic in the 149.1-km Stage 13 today and the 89-km Marikina City criterium tomorrow.

“As long as I keep on watching over my opponents, I know I’ll win this,” said Galedo, who seized the red jersey from Navy-Standard’s Santy Barnachea in the Lucena-Antipolo Stage Six and held on into it until now.

Reimon Lapaza of Cycleline-Butuan Mindanao and Frenchman Peter Pouly of Infinite-Singha got stuck at Nos. 2 and 3 with clockings of 40:23:42 and 40:24:54, respectively, and will need to defy odds, and perhaps a mishap on Galedo’s part, to pull off a miracle.

Rounding up the top 10 after 12 stages were Roadbike’s Marcelo Felipe (20:46:20), Navy-Standard’s George Oconer (40:28:03), PLDT-Maynilad’s Ronald Oranza (40:30:30), Navy-Standard’s Santy Barnachea (40:30:50), PLDT-Maynilad’s Rustom Lim (40:32:28) and Army’s Irish Valenzuela (40:35:20).

There’s a chance it could happen in today’s Stage 13 where cyclist will tackle three climbs – a Category 3 and a pair of Category 4 ascents in Morong, Bataan.

“We’ll see tomorrow (today),” said Lapaza, a 28-year-old native of Butuan City who has improved by leaps and bounds after forgettable performances in his last three Ronda campaigns.

Galedo’s teammate, Cris Joven, stole some of ths spotlight after besting Joel Calderon of Navy-Standard Insurance and Oscar Rindole of Cebu-Kalit Air Force in a frantic ending to secure his second lap victory.

All three clocked 3:50:59, finishing ahead of Dutch Global’s Jeroen Breewel and Team Gusto’s Yang Wu Hsing, who clocked 3:32:37, and PLDT-Maynilad’s Ronald Lomotos, who came in at No. 6 in 3:32:39.

Joven’s feat hiked 7-Eleven’s 37-second lead over PLDT-Maynilad in the overall team race to 2.17 with the former having aggregate time of 121:19:20 and the latter 121:21:37.

Navy-Standard, a team skippered by first Ronda champion Santy Barnachea, was dangerously at No. 3 with 121:21:42.

7-Eleven was helped when Lomotos punctured a tire in the final 4-km mark in Mabalacat, Pampanga, allowing Joven to break free from the six-man lead pack that left the peloton as early as the San Fabian, Pangasinan area, or just outside the starting line in Agoo, La Union.

“We just need to play smart in the last two stages for us to win the team title,” said 7-Eleven manager Bong Sual, whose squad also emerged team champion last year.