Echague, Isabela— Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance’s Ronald Oranza, heavily protected by his teammates, lost a four-second advantage, but still remained the overall leader after Stage 8 winner Jan Paul Morales of Excellent Noodles sneaked up from behind him at the finish line Friday in the 11th Ronda Pilipinas here.
The top rider of the defending champion Navymen vowed to keep fighting for the general classification title after logging a time of four hours, 41 minutes and 31 seconds, following a three-man bunched finish for top podium honors with Nueva Ecija’s Marcelo Felipe and stage victor and Morales.
All three submitted similar times at the end of the 170.4-km race from Baler, Aurora heading into the mountain roads of the Sierra Madre range all the way into Echague.
A bigger battle for the overall individual title now looms between Morales and Oranza in a crucial Stage 9 race, after the Navy top bet kept the red jersey for a third straight time.
Oranza, who grabbed the overall individual lead during the 147.1-km stage 6 from Lucena City to Tagaytay City, said he will be going all out when they head for Baguio City in a 187.9-km odyssey from Santiago City on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Oranza, who was protected by his four Navy teammates upon entering Echague, now has a total time of 27 hours, 59 minutes and 47 seconds.
“Kapag may bumigay, nandu’n sila, ganu’n sila,” said Oranza of his supportive teammates after Morales slipped behind him before crossing the end point at the national highway road located in front of the Echague Municipal Hall.
Morales cut Oranza’s 42-second lead time by four. He is now behind by 38 seconds, following his daring move at the closing moments of the race.
Overall, Go For Gold’s Jonel Carcueva is in far third, three minutes and eight seconds behind the pacesetter, followed in fourth by Navyman Ronald Lomotos and Felipe. Two other Navymen, El Joshua Carino and Jeremy Lizardo took sixth and seventh spots, respectively.