Lomotos heats up in Baguio, nears crown

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Vibrant cycling fans waited at the finish line in Burnham Park deliriously anticipating a Ronald Oranza victory ride in Stage 9 of the 11th LBC Ronda Pilipinas.

It was another Ronald who put on a show instead.

The 27-year-old Ronald Lomotos, Oranza’s Navy Standard Insurance teammate, came out of nowhere in dishing out one of the most memorable performances in Ronda history as he ruled Stage 9 that may have virtually clinched him the overall individual title yesterday.

Lomotos conquered the mountains of Kayapa and Bokod in Nueva Vizcaya by displaying spectacular climbing skills and clocked six hours, five minutes and four seconds in topping the 174.4-kilometer stage that started in Santiago, Isabela and ended at Burnham Park here.

The San Felipe, Zambales native was already pointing to the sky with his right hand as he approached the finish where he was welcomed with thunderous cheers from the big weekend crowd of cyclists and curious tourists alike.

Lomotos may have already sensed that he had not only seized the stage triumph but also the individual general classification race as well.

He was right as former leader and teammate Oranza came in fourth in the stage 9.18 minutes later and lost what appeared to be an insurmountable lead – nine minutes flat – after the Baler-Echague Stage 9 the day before.

“My goal was to just take the second overall and help our captain,” said Lomotos referring to Oranza. “But when I saw that I was already far ahead, I took the chance and went for it.”

Lomotos will wear the LBC red jersey in today’s final lap – a 3.1km Stage 10 criterium that would start and end at Burnham Park and pass through Session Road for the first time in Ronda history. It could well be his victory ride.

All in all, Lomotos has an aggregate time of 34:13:48, or 21 seconds ahead of Oranza, the 2018 Ronda champion at 34:14:09.

And after nine stages of more than 1,000 km road and mountain passes traveled starting in Sorsogon nine days ago, destiny beckons for Lomotos.

Joshua Pascual and Joshua Mari Bonifacio of Excellent Noodles ended up second and third in the stage with identical times of 6:13:31 that catapulted them straight to the top 10 with the latter at No. 5 in 34:34:25 and the former at No. 8 in 34:38:58.

Excellent Noodles’ Jan Paul Morales, the overall leader in the early stages, gave it his everything but succumbed in the ascents and slipped from No. 2 to No. 7 in 34:37:33 and kissed his title chances goodbye.

Two other Navymen – El Joshua Cariño and Jeremy Lizardo – were at distant Nos. 3 and 4 at 34:32:42 and 34:42:53, respectively.