ILOILO CITY—Navy-Standard Insurance’s Jan Paul Morales tries to put a distance between himself and teammate Rudy Roque as the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 resumes today with the Individual Time Trial Stage 12 in Guimaras.
Morales, 31, is currently atop the heap with an aggregate time of 37 hours, 25 minutes and 56 seconds, or about two minutes ahead of fellow Navyman Rudy Roque, who has a total time of 37:28:11.
A strong finish in today’s 40-km ITT could very well seal the deal for Morales.
“If I do good in the ITT, I think I will win this,” said Morales, who is seeking to become the first-ever back-to-back winner of this annual cycle race considered the biggest in the country, in Filipino.
The 25-year-old Roque, for his part, said he will be more than contented just finishing second behind Morales.
“I always dream of becoming champion of a race as big as this but finishing second will also be enough for me,” said Roque, whose best finish here was a ninth-place effort in the inaugural Stage 6 years ago.
The last three stages have turned into a two-man race between Morales and Roque as the next best rider, Kinetix Lab-Army’s Cris Joven, is a little over 11 minutes off the pace with a time of 37:37:03.
Go for Gold’s Bryant Sepnio is at No. 4 with 37:41:33 while RC Cola-NCR’s Lionel Dimaano is at No. 5 with 37:46:05.
Ilocos Sur’s Ryan Serapio and Navy’s Daniel Ven Carino and skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante resurfaced in the Top 10 at Nos. 6, 7 and 8 with 37:47:16, 37:48:28 and 37:48:43, respectively.
Navy’s Ronald Lomotos and Kinetix Lab-Army’s Reynaldo Navarro completed the Top 10 with 37:48:45 and 37:49:49.
For the 38-year-old Reynante, he will use the last three stages as his final ride before he finally hangs up his racing jersey and bicycle and retire.
“This will be the last year’s I’m competing competitively. It has been a memorable career for me and I think it’s time to rest my body,” said Reynante, who is also retiring from Navy this July after 20 years of service.
After Guimaras, the race proceeds with the 209-km Iloilo-Antique-Iloilo Stage 13 Friday and the Iloilo final stage criterium Saturday.
Ronda is staking P1 million to the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and in partnership with MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, Mitsubishi, Versa.ph, Partas, Maynilad, Standard Insurance, CCN, Bike Xtreme, NLEX, PhilCycling and 3Q Sports Event Management.