Marcelo Felipe rules LBC Pilipinas Ronda stage two

GUIMARAS, Philippines — In a battle between the country’s best Philippine cycling teams, 7Eleven Cliqq21-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines gained the upper hand over  chief rival Navy-Standard Insurance after Marcelo Felipe edged out El Joshua Carino to claim Stage Two honors yesterday in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2019 here.

Felipe relied on a late push to outsprint Carino and take the 101.8km lap win with identical clockings of two hours, 40 minutes,  19 seconds that kept 7Eleven ahead of Navy-Standard in the overall team race.

Go for Gold’s Jonel Carcueva was at third or four seconds behind.

Felipe’s recent feat came at the expense of Carino, the reigning Le Tour champion and part of the Navy team that lorded it over as Ronda team champion for five consecutive years.

The triumph was doubly special for Felipe, who celebrates his 29th birthday in today’s 179.4km Iloilo-Roxas Stage Three.

Felipe, however, stressed he is more concerned with a Filipino win in this UCI-sanctioned, five-stage race than the ongoing rivalry between the Navymen and the 7Eleven riders, a continental team.

“We Filipinos should help each other instead of competing against each other and let the foreigners just chase us,” said Felipe in Filipino.

The Navy-7Eleven heated rivalry has allowed Tour de France veteran Francisco Mancebo Perez and his powerhouse Matrix Powertag Japan team to keep its stranglehold of both the individual and team general classification lead.

The 42-year-old Mancebo, who sneaked into the lead and Stage One victory while 7Eleven and Navy jostled for position, opted to stay in the peloton to ensure his top position with an overall clocking of 7:47:28.

It was enough to help Matrix sustain the team lead with a time of 23:34:13, ahead of 7Eleven (2:47 behind) and Navy (3:31).

Mancebo, whose best Tour de France finish was fourth overall in 2005, will continue to wear the symbolic leader’s LBC red jersey in today’s 179.4km Stage Three that will start in front of the Iloilo City Hall and end in the Roxas City Hall grounds.

While Felipe kept 7Eleven victorious in Stage Two, Navy has the slight edge in the general classification as Navyman’s Ronald Oranza, the reigning Ronda king, continues to cling on to No. 2,  3:52 behind, or nine seconds faster than 7Eleven’s Dominic Perez (4:01).