Morales rules Ronda opening leg

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur — Jan Paul Morales of Navy-Standard Insurance made his move early as he finished second in the 40-kilometer Stage One criterium behind teammate Ronald Oranza and gained enough points in the intermediate sprint races to seize the overall lead in the Ronda Pilipinas 2018 presented by LBC here.

Morales, seeking a record third straight title, came in second to Oranza, ahead of eventual third placer Alvin Benosa of ArmyBicycology and George Oconer of Go for Gold with identical clockings of one hour, 11.21 minutes but took the overall lead after he topped two intermediate sprint races for a total bonus points of 15 seconds.

Jonel Carcueva of Go for Gold, who was with the five-man lead pack majority of the race, faded in the end and wound up fifth with a time of 1:11.22 in this race presented by LBC and supported by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, CCN, Petron, Versa.ph, 3Q Sports Event Management, Inc., Boy Kanin, Franzia, Standard Insurance, Bike Xtreme, SH+, Guerciotti, Prolite, Green Planet, Maynilad, NLEX Cycling, Lightwater, LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.

Morales who topped the last two editions of the biggest bikefest in the country, will go into today’s 155.4-km Vigan-Pagudpud Stage Two wearing the LBC red jersey symbolic of the overall leader with an overall time of 1:11:06, three seconds ahead of Oranza.

“So far, so good,” said Morales, who topped this same stage last year ahead of fellow Navyman Rudy Roque

And Benosa, a 37-year-old Army sergeant, almost denied Morales and Oranza the stage win after he made a serious run near the finish line fronting the Provincial Capitol only to fall short in the end.