DAGUPAN, Pangasinan—Jan Paul Morales of Navy-Standard Insurance will shift gears from aggressive to defensive when the Luzon Leg of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 resumes today with the Stage 4 road race unfurling at the Dagupan City Hall here and ending at Burnham Park in Baguio.
With the title almost in the bag after snaring the first three stages including Wednesday’s Antipolo City criterium, Morales, 30, is planning to slow down and just stick with his closest LBC-MVP Sports Foundation rivals George Oconer and Rustom Lim.
“I will just try to race safe and stick with them,” said Morales, who hails from Calumpang, Marikina, in Filipino referring to Oconer and Lim.
After three stages, Morales, who also reigned supreme in Stage 1 in Paseo de Sta. Rosa Sunday and Stage 2 in Tagaytay the next day, has accumulated a whopping 45-point total–15 each for topping the first three stages–that gave him a big cushion against Oconer and Lim, who have 31 and 29, respectively.
Stage 4 is a 94.41-kilometer road race that will negotiate the back-breaking mountain pass of Kennon Road.
And there, Morales knows he can’t afford to make mistakes.
“Champions were made and broken in Baguio. If I could do well there, I’ll have a chance,” said Morales, who topped MIndanao two months ago and wound up sixth in the Visayas last month.
For Oconer, whose best performance in Baguio was fifth four years ago, hope springs eternal.
“You can count on me not to give up,” said the 24-year-old Oconer, who finished second to last year’s champion Santy Barnachea.
There are several other riders that should also go all out to catch up on the leaders, among them LBC-MVPSF’s Ronnilan Quita, who has climbed up the ladder after jumping from No. 10 to 8 overall with 12 points.
It was Quita, a native of San Jose, Tarlac who is using his participation here to get a second shot at education, who made heads turn in the Visayas Leg where he finished second to 2009 Tour king Joel Calderon of Navy in Stage Four in Roxas City.
Quita, 21, actually had a chance to duplicate or even surpass the performance after he caught up with Morales and Oconer late in Stage 3, but he lost steam and ended up seventh.
It was enough though to move him up the standings.
“I will definitely go for it again,” he said.
At Nos. 4 to 7 are Camingao (25 points), LBC-MVPSF’s Ronald Lomotos (16), Calderon (15) and Navy’s Rudy Roque (13).
Rounding up the Top 10 1re Navy’s El Joshua Carino (10) and LBC-MVPSF’s Arnold Marco (9).
The fifth and final stage, another criterium, is also set in Baguio Saturday.
The event, organized by LBC Express, is sanctioned by PhilCycling and sponsored by Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Versa Radio-Tech 1 Corp. with Maynilad and NLEX as minor sponsors.