TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines, March 16 ------ Ronald Oranza of Navy Standard Insurance flashed his climbing prowess and blew away the field in a showdown in the dreaded Talisay-Tagaytay road on the way to gaining Stage Six honors and overall lead in the 11th LBC Ronda Pilipinas yesterday. When he got past the Tagaytay rotunda, the 2018 Ronda titlist was all by his lonesome and checked in at the finish in front of the Praying Hands with a time of three hours, 40 minutes and 45 seconds.
Fellow Navy man El Joshua Carino was second in the stage in 3:42:39 while Jan Paul Morales of Excellent Noodles – the leader from Stage One to Four before being bumped off by Jonel Carcueva in Stage Five – was third in 3:42:41.
The 29-year-old proud son of Villasis, Pangasinan raised his arms in triumph to the delight of the crowd who cheered and shouted in unison “Navy, Navy, Navy” and “Oranza, Oranza, Oranza” as he fell to the ground, grimacing in pain due to cramps. He was then carried by two race security personnel straight to the team tent near the awarding area where he was embraced and kissed by his coach Reinhard Gorrantes as the two shed tears of joy. After all, Oranza snatched the red LBC jersey.
He did that even as he was hit by a busted tire in Cuenca, Batangas and by cramps near the finish. “I had a flat tire in Cuenca and felt cramps about five kilometers to the finish but I prayed I could finish,” said Oranza. “I knew I would do good in this stage and I would get the chance to snatch the red jersey eventually. “But I didn’t expect it will come today (yesterday),” he added.
After six grueling stages, Oranza was the individual general classification race leader in 18:46:04 ahead of Morales (18:46:46) and Carcueva, who fell to No. 3 in 18:49:01.
Source: philstar.com
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