Barnachea retains lead in ‘Ronda’

SANTY Barnachea of Eastern Pangasinan preserved his red jersey, while former race leader Joel Calderon of Nueva Ecija climbed back to number two in stage ten of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas from Agoo up to the Summer Capital.

But the spotlight belongs to Mark Galido of 7/11 after winning the short 46.4 kilometers with a time of 1:42:29.5, while teammate Lloyd Reynante came in second with 1:44:48.2.

Baler Ravina of East Pangasinan (1:44:48.3), Irish Valenzuela of 7/11 (1:44:48.5), George Oconer of the RP Under 23 (1:44:48.7) and Calderon of Nueva Ecija (1:44:48.9) completed the top six in the road race with three stages left.

Barnachea (32:14:31) will enjoy a slight six-minute lead over Calderon (32:20:59), as they raced towards Angles today and onwards Manila on Sunday for the closing ceremony.

Completing the top ten cast were George Oconer of U23 (32:21:16); March Mquinn of CEX (32:21:45); Lloy Reynante of 7/11 (32:22:40); Baler Ravina of EP (32:22:56); Cris Joven of AV (32:22:56); Tomas Martinez of Tarlac (32:26:55); Rudy Roque of AV (32:27:34); and Frederick Feliciano of NCR (32:30:41)

Valenzuela of 7/11 officially claimed the Magnolia Purewater King of the Mountain of LBC Ronda Pilipinas and headed towards the 10th stage wearing the blue jersey as Air Asia Points Leader, while Rudy Project Best Youngrider belonged to George Oconer (Yellow Jersey) of U23 Philcycling.

Barnachea made his move in the mountain passes and vaulted from No. 5 to the top of the heap, toppling six-day leader Joel Calderon in a rain-drenched Stage 9 of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas, as they arrived from Vigan Thursday afternoon.

Tomas Martinez of Tarlac took the lap honors but Barnachea grabbed the coveted red jersey with a strong fourth place finish in the 181.4km stage, which had Calderon fading out in the very same race he dominated in winning the 2009 Tour.

Martinez edged teammate and Moncada, Tarlac native Daniel Asto and Cycleline Extreme-Butuan City’s March McQuinn Aleonar, who turned in times of 4:56:57.5 and 4:57:16.5, respectively.

Barnachea’s superb performance catapulted him from No. 5 to No. 1 with a total time of 30:25:46, moving a step closer to duplicating Antonio Arzala’s three-title romp in 1955, 1956 and 1959.

The 35-year-old Barnachea clocked four hours, 57 minutes, 19.4 seconds, three minutes behind Martinez, who topped the stage in 4:54:31 worth P50,000.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on October 08, 2011.