Pagnanawon follows dad’s footsteps, rules Ronda Stage 1

SIPALAY CITY – Like father, like son.

Jaybop Pagnanawon showed flashes of his champion father Rolando as he raced like a wind and beat more fancied Irish Valenzuela and Baler Ravina to claim Stage One victory in the Visayas qualifying leg of the Ronda Pilipinas 2015 presented by LBC that started down in Dumaguete and ended in this quiet Negros Occidental city Tuesday.

Pagnanawon, 26, outsprinted Valenzuela and Ravina in a mad dash to the finish to claim stage honors in this 172.7-kilometer lap with a clocking of four hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds for his first ever stage victory in his four Ronda campaigns.

Valenzuela, an Army man who won the third edition of this annual race considered as the biggest and richest race in Asia, checked in at second in 4:25.11 while Ravina, a mountain climber extraordinaire, finished third in 4:25.12.

It was Pagnanawon though who owned the day after he also topped the King of the Mountain and sprint races to take home an additional P6,000 to his P25,000 winnings for ruling the stage.

Paganawon, a native of Talisay, Cebu who is representing Team Negros, however, stressed the bigger goal is to win the whole thing like his father Rolando, who topped the fabled Marlboro Tour in 1986.

"My dream is to be a Tour champion like my father, hopefully I can do that this year," said Pagnanawon in Filipino.

Rounding up the top 10 were Alvin Benosa (4:25.39), Boots Cayubit (4:26.02), Reynaldo Navarro (4:26-38), Kenneth Solis (4:26.43), Cris Joven (4:26.44), Leonel Dimaano (4:26.44) and Denver Casayuran (4:26.45).

Solis wound up topping the under-23 side ahead of Dominic Perez and Arjey Peralta while the top 3 finishers of the 18-and-under division were Edalson Ellorem, Daniel Van and Engilbert Enarciso.

After bidding their time, Pagnanawon, Valenzuela, Ravina, Army's Alvin Benosa made their move 20 kms into Sipalay and broke away from the 19-man lead pack that left the peloton in Bayawan.

Just 20 seconds behind them were Dominic Perez, 40-year-old Rey Navarro and Nelson Martin while 12 riders, which included Mark Bonzo, Ronnel Hualda, Nelson Martin, Boots Ryan Cayubit, Merculio Ramos and Oscar Rindole, are just about 30 seconds off the pace.

The peloton were far back by seven minutes.

The race resumes today with a 156.6-km Stage Two starting at the Bacolod City Plaza, passing through the mountains of Don Salvador Benedicto twice via San Carlos before returning to the Bacolod City Government Center.

Ronda race director Ric Rodriguez this is one of the toughest stages not just in the qualifying legs but in the whole race as well as it boasts of three long, Category 2 ascents in Don Salvador Benedicto.

"It's definitely one of the toughest stages because of the Don Salvador Benedicto mountains where the riders will pass through twice," said Rodriguez.

Among the cities and towns Ronda will pass by in Stage Two are Murcia, Mt. Kanlaon, San Carlos before turning back to Bacolod for the finish.

The race is being presented by LBC and supported by major sponsors the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Mitsubishi and minor sponors Cannondale, Standard Insurance, Tech1 Corp., Maynilad and NLEX and sanctioned by PhilCycling under Cavite Congressman Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino with TV5 and Sports Radio as media partners.