Roque clings on Pagnanawon wins Stage 5

PILI, Camarines Sur, Philippines – Jaybop Pagnanawon of Bike Extrme topped the punishing 251-km Lucena-Pili Stage Five even as Rudy Roque of Navy-Standard Insurance checked his pursuers to preserve the overall individual lead in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 at the Camsur Watersports Complex here yesterday.

Pagnanawon, son of 1986 Marlboro Tour champion Rolando, poured it all out in the final 28 kms then fended off Navy-Standard Insurance’s Daniel Ven Carino and RC Cola-NCR’s Leonel Dimaano’s fierce challenge to record his first stage triumph in the 14-stage event.

The 28-year-old Cebu native clocked six hours, 58 minutes, 13 seconds, the same time registered by his provincemate Carino, while Dimaano wound up third in 6:58:15.

“I saw them settling to stick with each other so I made my move,” said Pagnanawon, a bike instructor in the offseason.

“When they (Carino and Dimaano) caught up with me near the homestretch, I gave it all because I knew they’re already spent,” he added.

The victory, however, hardly boosted Pagnanawon’s bid after he broke his chains during the Angeles-Subic Stage Three and fell behind in the ranking.

Pagnanawon later said his dream of becoming a champion like his father will have to wait one more year.

“Maybe it’s not yet the time, but I’ll try again next year,” he said.

Kinetix Lab-Army’s Lord Anthony del Rosario and Go 4 Gold’s Elmer Navarro placed fourth and fifth with clockings of 6:59:11 and 6:59:13, respectively.

Navy’s Ronald Lomotos came in sixth in 6:59:14 to reclaim his No. 2 spot overall while Kinetix Lab-Army’s Cris Joven made good his vow and finished seventh in 6:59:20 to jump from No. 9 to No. 7.

Roque, 25, failed to squeeze himself out of the peloton but succeeded in keeping the overall individual lead with an aggregate time of 18:12:48, but just 59 seconds ahead of Lomotos, who has 18:13:47, and a little less than two minutes off Carino, who has 18:14:43.

Morales was also in the main group but conceded some precious minutes to Lomotos and Carino, dropping him to No. 4 with 18:15:51, or 17 seconds ahead of Joven, who is at No. 5 and only 3.20 minutes off the pace.

“I feel happy I was able to stick to my gameplan and gained some minutes,” said the 30-year-old Joven, who hails from Iriga, Camarines Sur, just a 45-minute ride from here.

Completing the top 10 were Go 4 Gold’s Navarro (18:17:57), RC Cola-NCR’s Dimaano (18:18:01), Go 4 Gold’s Ismael Grospe Jr. (18:19:02), Army’s Del Rosario (18:19:44) and Go 4 Gold’s Jonel Carcueva (18:20:33).

Navy continued to hold sway in the team race with an aggregate time of 72:48:47, leading Go 4 Gold (73:09:42) and Kinetix Lab-Army (18:20:33).

The race takes another break and will resume tomorrow with the 46.6-km Pili-San Jose Stage Six.

Ronda is offering P1 million to the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and held in partnership with MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, Mitsubishi, Versa.ph, Partas, Maynilad, Standard Insurance, CCN, Bike Xtreme, NLEX, PhilCycling and 3Q Sports Event Management.