Lloyd Lucien Reynante rebounded from an opening stage loss to Niño Surban to bag the title in the prestigious Open Class of the 6th Tour Ni Frank that ended at the Mandaue City Reclamation area yesterday.
Reynante fought off the challenge of other riders in Stage 2 by showing his mountain climbing prowess enroute to winning the JY Square to Buak race. By outworking his rivals during the climb, Reynante also bagged the “King of the Mountain” award.
The victory in Stage 2 plus a decent finish in the criterium of Stage 3 earned Reynante a total of 60 points for the title in the Open Class over Randy Carbonera and Niño Surban.
In the Stage 2, Robert Villaver, who was trailing Reynante most of the way, finished second, while Randy Carbonera took third place. Stage 1 winner Niño Surban could only finish fourth.
Another Manila-based rider, John Ricafort bagged the Class A overall title after ruling the criterium in 45 minutes in Stage 3. Janno Canasa and Randy Carbonera made up the top three riders in the class.
Gino Basirgo captured the title in Class B while John Paul Baco placed second and Rodel Gendrano finished third. Gendrano, however, added the “King of the Mountain” award to his winnings.
Marcelo Berdon bagged the overall title in Class C over Emmanuel Tiples and Ted Pascual while Noel Ting showed his mountain climbing skills by winning the “King of the Mountain” plum in Class C.
Stage winners in yesterday’s race include Rodel Gendrano who ruled Class C in Stage 2, Noel Ting in Class C also in Stage 2, Alex Billan of Class C in Stage 3 and Emmanuel Tiples who won the criterium in Class B.
Team Excellent Noodles spearheaded by Alex Billan emerged the best team for Class B with Team Vellum and the Social Climbers settling for second and third places, respectively.
Lapu-Lapu City ruled Class C after defeating Social Climbers and Team XXX. – Caecent No-ot Magsumbol with Marigold Lebumfacil