Morales rules Mindanao leg of LBC Ronda
MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon – Navy-Standard Insurance’s Jan Paul Morales rode smooth and safe in the fifth and final stage to officially crown himself Mindanao leg champion of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 at the City Plaza here yesterday.
With the title already in the bag after lording it over the Stage Four individual time trial at the Dahilayan Forest Park in Manolo Fortich Thursday, Morales, 30, decided not to take risks and just rode with the peloton to post his first victory in a multi-stage race of this magnitude.
“It was special because it’s my first victory in a multi-stage race,” said Morales, a native of Calumpang, Marikina.
Morales went through the motion of completing the last stage, a three-kilometer criterium, finishing fifth with a clocking of one hour, nine minutes, 20.54 seconds.
Another Navy bet El Joshua Carino ruled the stage in 1:08:26.01, towing fellow Navymen Lloyd Lucien Reynante (1:08:37.08 ) and Rudy Roque (1:08:37.22).
Overall, Morales amassed 55 points after five stages, a clear 13 points ahead of closest pursuer and teammates Ronald Oranza and Reynante.
Oranza bested Reynante, the Navy skipper, for second with a faster overall time of 8:30:32.19 as against the latter’s 8:36:12.99.
It was an impressive performance for Morales, who topped Stage Three in Pueblo de Oro down in Cagayan de Oro and the Manolo Fortich in ITT and wound up second to Oranza in the first two stages in Butuan City.
Morales took the LBC red leader’s jersey as early as the opening stage and never looked back from there.
The only trouble he encountered was when he collided with Oranza in Stage One and suffered a crash that left him with bruises on his right shoulder and thigh.
He recovered from it, finished second in the stage and utterly dominated practically everyone the rest of the race. “My teammates supported me,” said Morales. All in all, Morales raked in a whopping P136,000 cash in total purse including P50,000 for emerging the Mindano champion.
Morales’ moment of triumph capped Navy’s total domination of the leg as eight of its riders finished in the top 10 overall and won every single individual award and prize.
Aside from Morales, Oranza and Reynante, other Navymen in the top 10 were Daniel Ven Carino, Navy’s youngest rider at 19 years old with 35 points, Roque (34), the elder Carino (26), Joel Calderon (26) and John Mark Camingao (15).
Only Team LBC-MVP Sports Foundation’s Ronnilon Quita and Team LCC Lutayan’s James Paolo Ferfas made it to the top 10 outside Navy after winding up ninth and 10th with 13 and 12 points.
Camingao, who was born in Davao but lived in Manila, bucked tonsillitis to edge Ferfas, who is from Marbel, South Cotabato, to win the Petron Local Hero plum.