Tarlac City— After taking the overall lead halfway in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race, multi-titled Ronald Oranza hopes that he and his teammates will be able to keep it up.
This is what the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance team will try to do when Stage 6 takes place today with a 111.9-km Stage 6 run after a day’s rest. The race will begin at the capitol and finish at the Tarlac Recreation Center here.
Oranza, who took the overall championship twice already in 2016 and 2018 and was hailed as the best local rider last year, said he and his teammates will now change their plans from hereon after what happened in Stage 5 on Thursday.
There were no plans for the Navymen to grab the overall leadership and claim a stage win when they dominated the 128.5-km Stage 5 from Lucena to Antipolo last Thursday.
But after other teams took the leadership role in the stage when rains and slippery roads slowed riders down in the first 12 kilometers, the Navymen saw an opportunity and took control at the front.
“First option lang kasi na sumunod kami sa kanila kasi nasa harap kami. Pero ako na rin nagsabi na i-pursige natin ito,” said Oranza after the team showed that it can take on the mountainous route along the Lucena City diversion road and into the uphill route along Lucban, entering Pagsanjan, Laguna.
When Stage 5 was over, George Oconer moved up from second to first place in the general classification race.
Oconer’s sixth-place finish allowed him to gain a clocking of 17 hours, 43 minutes and 13 seconds, allowing him to ease out Army-Bicycology’s Mark Julius Bordeos for the lead.
This put Oconer a minute ahead of teammate Oranza, who is currently at second in 17:55:28.
Stage 2 winner Ronald Lomotos and Stage 5 champion John Mark Camingao follow the two at third and fourth spots, ahead of teammates Junrey Navarra (fifth) and El Joshua Carino (sixth).
The Navymen may have taken the Top 6 position in the overall individual standings. But they are still wary of what Team 7-Eleven/Cliqq/Air21 can do.
“Depende sa kundisyon. Ilang araw na rin silang nagta-trabaho,” added Oranza.
Rustom Lim of 7-Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines, who is in eighth place, is behind by five minutes and 20 seconds.
And Lim could still rally 7-Eleven up the standings in the last five stages.
The Navymen are still wary of what the challenges that the Palayan-Baguio Stage Eight will throw at them.
This is where 75 surviving riders out of the original 88 will tackle the dreaded ascent in this race presented by LBC and supported by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation.
“That stage in Baguio is really difficult. That will decide everything,” said Oconer, who is now seeking to provide leadership for the Navymen, now that he has the red jersey.
In Stage 6, the Navymen (71:36.57) will also try to hold their advantage against no. 2 Go for Gold (72:00:37) and No. 3 Bicyology-Army (72:02:16).
“We will do our best to also keep the team lead and not relax,” said skipper Jan Paul Morales, the 2016 and 2017 Ronda king.