Galedo dismisses last of rivals for P1M crown
BAGUIO CITY – Road Bike’s Mark Galedo passed the second of two dreaded ascents to his dream P1 million LBC Ronda title as he fended off another ferocious, determined attempt by American Vinyl-LPGMA’s Irish Valenzuela with
a second place finish in the shortened Stage 13 or
individual time trial here yesterday.
A day after winding up second in the Lingayen-Baguio Stage 12, Valenzuela bucked
a rear wheel puncture to top the lap, which started down in Tuba, Benguet and ended here, but was shortened from the original distance of 27.4 kilometers to just 21.5 km after a landslide
occured on the eve of the race.
The 25-year-old Tabaco, Albay native, who was the second to the last of the 75 remaining cyclists who were flagged off a minute after the other, checked in at 44 minutes, 51 seconds to snare his second lap victory and second straight podium finish after ending up second to Nueva Ecija’s Joel Calderon in the Lingayen-Baguio Stage 12 the day before.
Galedo, who seized the red jersey in the Lucena-Antipolo Stage Nine, however, wasn’t about to let his lead slip away and, just like he did the day before, mustered all his reserves to finish second in the lap in 45.05 that kept him atop the
overall individual leaderboard with a total time of 46:08.52 with just two laps to go.
“I’m just glad I have some energy left for this stage, if not I wouldn’t have kept my lead,” said the 26-year-old Galedo, who topped the sevenstage Liquigaz-LPGMA Tour three years ago, in
Filipino.
Though he failed again to overtake Galedo on top, Valenzuela, whose biggest victory in his young career was the multi-stage Tour of Camsur a year back, succeeded in creeping closer to the top and will now be just 33 seconds off the pace with a total clocking of 46:09.25 instead of 51
seconds the day before.
And he did that despite discovering that a tiny
pin the size of a thumb tax punctured his rear tire.
“Coach discovered it just one minute before
my turn came and we had really no time to remove it otherwise it would cost us time,” said Valenzuela referring to American Vinyl-LPGMA coach Renato Dolosa as he was embraced and kissed by his father Virgilio or Kiko to his peers at the finish line.
“I just prayed to God to help me make it through, if it’s His will, I will obey,” he added.
It was another bid by Valenzuela that was nipped in the bud by Galedo, who also survived a failed try by the former in the mountain passes of Baguio City.
And Galedo was close to relinquishing the red or leader’s jersey as Valenzuela further strengthened his reputation as one of the best, if not the best, mountain climbers in the country today.
Valenzuela, in fact, clinched his second straight King of the Mountain award in Ronda and his third since winning one five years ago
when he was still a Tour rookie. It also included the long 2008 Manila-to-baguio race.
“It’s special to me, this King of the Mountain award because I started my Tour career winning this same award,” said Valenzuela.
Navy A-standard’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante submitted the third fastest time in Stage 13 with 46.53 but passed out seconds after he crossed the finish line in front of the crowded Lake Drive at the heart of Burnham Park of this cool, windy mountain-top city.
The local medical team though was quick to respond as he was given first aid, lifted to an
ambulance and was transported to the nearest hospital, allowing Reynante to get back in time for the customary post-race awarding ceremonies.
“I gave it all out there that’s why I got really dehydrated,” said the 33-year-old Reynante, who
has his six-year-old son Ivan on his lap while he
was being interviewed by the media.
RONDA NOTES: Race officials stripped Nueva Ecija coach Arjun Saulo and PTV 4 and Sports Radio reporter Snow Badua for fighting just before the race. Badua, a veteran of many cycling races, suffered a swollen upper lip after he was punched by the bigger Saulo, who accused the former of being biased in his reporting...“as a result of the serious incident at the start line that brought the event
in disrepute, the Panel of Commissaires in conjunction with race organization has decided to withdraw with immediate affect the accreditation from LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2012 these persons,” said Ronda race director Ric Rodriguez... saulo, who claimed it was Badua
who threw the first punch, was fined P10,000 for his misconduct...
Lead marshall Abd Rahim, a Malaysian, got into an accident in the
middle of the race and thankfully suffered just some scratches.