Oconer, Navy palskings of the road

VIGAN, Philippines  – The LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race hit the finish here yesterday with George Oconer and his Standard Insurance Navy teammates completing and celebrating a dominant double-championship.

Oconer annexed a first cycling tour individual title while his Standard Insurance squad stretched their reign as team champion to a sixth straight year.

The eventual champ, 28, safely stuck with the lead group, including Stage 10 criterium winner and Standard skipper Jan Paul Morales, that checked in with identical clocking of 51 minutes and 20 seconds.

His hands raised triumphantly, Oconer drew loud cheers from the adoring crowd that included Ronda chairman Moe Chulani and Standard boss Ernesto “Judes” Echauz at the finish.

“Finally, I’m a champion,” said Oconer, bagging the crown without winning a stage.

Through 10 stages covering different cities and towns in 14 provinces, Oconer emerged a tour king, topping 67 survivors from a starting field of 88 riders.

“I couldn’t have done this without the support of my teammates and the whole team,” said Oconer, who also thanked his father, two-time Olympian Norberto.

The Navymen savored their own crowning moment, besting two continental teams in 7Eleven Cliqq-Ari21 by Roadbike Philippines and youth-laden Go for Gold in this race presented by LBC and backed by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation.

“We didn’t want to disappoint our sponsors and our bosses in the Navy,” said Morales, accounting for three of the five stage wins by Standard.

For their effort, Oconer pocketed P1 million while Standard received P200,000.

For Santy Barnachea, it’s time to say goodbye to competitive racing.

“I’ve been racing since the Marlboro Tour days and I’ve never stopped competing,” said Barnachea. “So I just finished this race and told myself that its time to retire.”

Barnachea, who wound up 42nd overall, capped a storied career that was highlighted by two Ronda triumphs in 2011 and 2015 and victories in the 2002 Fedex Tour of Calabarzon and 2006 Padyak Pinoy.

“I can now spend my whole time with my family and I’ll probably coach soon,” he said.

Five Standard bets finished behind Oconer – 2018 titlist Ronald Oranza, Ronald Lomotos, John Mark Camingao, Junrey Navarra and El Joshua Carino – while Jonel Carcueva, Daniel Ven Carino and Ismael Grospe Jr. of Go for Gold and Marvin Tapic of Bicycology-Army rounded out the top 10.

The category winners were Morales (CCN Sprint), Carino (Versa King of the Mountain) and Grospe (MVPSF Best Young Rider).