Oranza wins Stage 2, Morales keeps lead

BUTUAN CITY – Navy-Standard Insurance’s Ronald Oranza took his second stage victory even as Jan Paul Morales bucked a crash to hang on to the overall lead in the Mindanao leg’s Stage Two of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 in front of the Butuan City Hall here yesterday.

Oranza, 22, outsprinted Morales and four other teammates at the finish in clocking an hour, 17 minutes, 59.32 seconds to claim his second stage triumph, over a 3.71-kilometer criterium that circled around the city.

The Villasis, Pangasinan native reigned supreme in the 158.32-km kickoff leg also in this same city the day before.

“I just took my time and when I saw an opportunity, I didn’t hesitate to grab it,” said Oranza, who now has a total of four stage wins in six editions of this annual race considered the biggest in the country today, in Filipino.

Morales ended up checking in at second in 1:17:59.47 despite suffering bruises on his right shoulder and thigh caused by a crash in the final 20 minutes of the required one-hour loop after he hit the rear wheel of Oranza in one of the turns.

The spill though didn’t slow down Morales, one of the country’s top sprinters, as he quickly got up from the spill and raced his way back into the Oranza-led lead pack.

Morales’ perseverance allowed him to keep the overall lead with a total accumulated score of 29 points, just six points ahead of Navy skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante with 23.

“It was just a scratch,” said Morales, a 31-year-old who hails from Calumpang, Marikina.

Oranza said he didn’t see Morales.

“I didn’t mean to hit him (Morales). I didn’t see him. When I did, it was too late,” he said.

It was an all-Navy show for the second straight stage as Daniel Ven Carino, Rudy Roque and Joel Calderon finished third to fifth in the same stage with clockings of 1:17:59.84, 1:17:59.88 and 1:18:00.25, respectively.

John Mark Camingao, the yellow MVP Sports Foundation local leader jersey holder given to the top cyclist from Mindanao, encountered some problems with his gear-shifter but recovered in time to wind up at No. 6 in 1:22:01.65.

For Reynante, he was contented to end up at seventh in 1:23:09.58, which kept his grip at No. 2 overall with 23 points.

Team LCC Lutayan’s James Paolo Ferfas, LBC/MVPSF’s Ronnilon Quita and Navy’s El Joshua Carino finished eighth to 10th with times of 1:23:09.76, 1:23:54.00 and 1:25:16.86.

Oranza stayed at No. 3 with 20 points, thanks to his pair of stage victories.

Roque was at No. 4 with 17 points, the younger Carino at No. 5 with 16, Calderon at No. 6 with 12, Camingao at No. 7 with 10 and the elder Carino at No. 8 with five.

Ferfas and Quita were the only riders outside Navy who barged into the top 10 overall with five and three points.