ROXAS CITY—Navy-Standard Insurance’s Ronald Oranza aims to use the last two stages as his ceremonial victory ride as the Visayas Leg of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 resumes Thursday with Stages 4 and 5 at the Robinsons Place here.
The 22-year-old Oranza continued his winning ways by ruling the 121.5-kilometer Stage 3 that started from Iloilo City and ended in this coastal city after registering a time of three hours, 15 minutes and 53.53 seconds.
The victory catapulted the proud son of Villasis, Pangasinan from a share of first with Navy teammate Rudy Roque with 28 points the day before to the solo lead as he hiked his general individual classification points to 43 as against the latter’s 35.
It was Oranza’s second lap triumph in the Visayas Leg and his third podium finish in as many stages after he topped the Stage 1 criterium in Bago City Negros, Occidental Friday and finished second behind Roque in the Stage 2 criterium in Iloilo City Sunday.
And it looked like Oranza isn’t slowing down entering today’s Stage 4, another criterium that requires each and every rider to ride in the 2.71-km loop for one hour plus three more laps, in the morning and Stage 5, a 42-km individual time trial, to claim his first ever race win, in the afternoon.
“I’m inspired knowing I’ll have a chance to win my first race,” said Oranza, who has won seven stages in Ronda, but never the big one, in Filipino.
Roque, his closest rival, for his part, said he is doesn’t mind if Oranza wins it.
“I will be happy if he wins,” said Roque, a 23-year-old native of Bataan.
Two more Navy bets, Mindanao Leg winner Jan Paul Morales and skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante, share third spot at 20 points each and both know it will take a major mishap to deprive Oranza of his first-ever race win.
“It will be impossible to beat him now,” said the 30-year-old Morales, who is from Calumpang, Marikina City, referring to Oranza.
“If we can plan well, he (Oranza) will win it,” said Reynante.
Navy’s biggest threat, Team LBC-MVP Sports Foundation, is underperforming as the latter’s current best rider Ronald Lomotos is at No. 6 with 19 points, or a whopping 24 points off the pace.
Rustom Lim and Julius Mark Bonzo were the only other two LBC-MVPSF cyclists who made it to the Top 10 as the two are at Nos. 8 and 10 with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Rounding up the top 10 were Navy’s Joel Calderon and John Mark Camingao, who are at Nos. 7 and 9 with 18 and 11 points.
