Joven outsprints aces; Roque hangs tough

SUBIC BAY, Philippines – Cris Joven of Kinetix Lab-Army flashed top form to beat last year’s winner Jan Paul Morales of Navy-Standard Insurance and Ryan Serapio of Ilocos Sur in a frenetic finish to rule Stage Four of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 that fired off at the Lighthouse Marina Resort and finished at the Harbour Square here yesterday.

Joven, 30, poured it all out in the last 1,000 meters to outsprint Morales, Serapio and a big group that checked in with identical clocking of two hours, 40 minutes, six seconds and claim his first stage triumph.

Joven, whose best finish here was fourth overall five years ago, thus gained an eight-second time bonus that propelled him from 14th to ninth.

“It was just a case of cashing in on the opportunity,” said Joven of his victory which came despite going through a one-year hiatus.

“I didn’t race for one year to be with Army and I only got to train last Jan. 11, which only gave me a few weeks to prepare,” said Joven, a private first class from Iriga, Camarines Sur. “But I’m not losing hope, I just need to show the right attitude.”

Navy’s Rudy Roque was in that group which Joven, Morales and Serapio towed, enabling him to hold on to the lead and the red LBC jersey with a total time of 11:12:15.

But Morales sustained his rise from No. 23 to No. 16 to No. 3 and now to second place with an 11:13:45 clocking, boosted by three straight podium finishes, including victories in the Stage Two criterium in Vigan, Ilocos Sur and the Angeles-Subic Stage Three.

“I was confident going to Stages Three and Four because I trained here for about a month last November,” said Morales.

Still, Roque said he was more than satisfied to have remained on top of the heap.

“As I’ve said before, if I can stay on top after Stages Three, Four and Five, I’ll have a chance. So far, so good,” said Roque.

Lomotos slid from No. 2 to No. 3 with a time of 11:14:33 while Serapio jumped from No. 7 after Stage Three to No. 4 with 11:16:07.

Joven was at No. 9 with 11:16:48 with 10 stages left.

Completing the top 10 are Navy’s Jay Lampawog (11:16:12), Kinetix Lab-Army’s Reynaldo Navarro (11:16:21), Go for Gold’s Joshua Mari Bonifacio (11:16:28), Navy’s Daniel Ven Carino (11:16:35) and Go for Gold’s Ismael Grospe Jr. (11:17:43).

The race will take another two-day break before resuming on Sunday with the tough Lucena-Pili Stage Five, the race’s longest lap at 251 kms made more daunting by the ascent at Tatlong Eme in Atimonan, Quezon.

Ronda is staking P1 million to the champion.