MANILA, Philippines - Multi-titled Fitness First and DMCI Homes Multisport made their presence felt in the AboitizPower Tour of Clark by topping the 14-team Stage One 20-km team time trial held Saturday morning at Clark, Pampanga.
Fitness First, composed of Alexander Leuterio, Luis Gabino Urrutia, Michael Raymond Amistoso, Jez Ponting, Rob Cash, BJ Afable and Benjamin Ramirez, clocked 29 minutes, 25.063 seconds to rule the open category in the two-day bikefest organized by Bike King headed by Raul Cuevas and presented by AboitizPower.
Meanwhile, Von Dutch riders Archie Cardana, Jay Lapawag and Aaron Quintia made it a 1-2-3- finish in the individual event of the 40-km criterium Stage 2 held late afternoon.
Cardana took the gold medal in 1:03:04, beating Lapawag (1:03:04) and Quintia (1:03:40).
Other category winners were Jason Comandante (1:06:36) of AboitizPower Cycling Team 1 in Category 3, Alfie Tangzo (1:10:08)of Exellent Noodles in Category 4 and veteran Doray Ellis (1:13:28) of Fitness First in the female division.
Cardana, Comandante, Tangzo and Ellis need another strong performance in the third and final stage, a lung-busting 80-kilometer road race set Sunday, to bag the individual titles in this event supported by Aboitiz, Clark Freeport, AboitizPower, Unilab Active Health, Gatorade, SN AboitizPower, Bikers’ Café, Fontana Leisure Park, OtterBox, Shimano, Orbea, Maxxis, Crystal Clear, Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines.
Sante Barley, bannered by Mervin Santiago, Ricky Calla, Ian Atendido, Ivan Leopando, Ramon Acuna, Gary Nepomuceno, Glenn Lee, Alex Paguirigan and Ricky Unlayao, came in second (29:33.635) while the AboitizPower Cycling Team 1 of AboitizPower Generation Group COO Manny Rubio, Jason Comandante, Bong Reynante, Dennis Papag, Elvis Aaron Reynante, Kristian Reyes, Raymond Pascual, Ernesto Labador and Rommel Cabrera took third spot (30:17.254).
DMCI Homes Multisports Team went unchallenged in the female category as Katherine Kaye Lopez, Mari Grace Maligaya, Maria Katrina Amistoso, Tess Rodriguez and Glenda Evangelista negotiated the race in 37:6.749.
Some six minutes behind was PLDT Bike King composed of Marianne Rivera, Katrina Cadungog, Ting Joson and Kareena Maclang (43:48.944) while Fit Plus Academy made up of Mimi Dizon, Marian Fe Durano, Hazel Ferrer-Misa and Lora Tansengco finished third (44:26.845).