Martinez claims lap honors in wild finish

LUCENA CITY , Philippines  – Tomas Martinez blitzed past two rivals in their dash for home to capture the first day lap honors in the Liquigaz-LPGMA Tour of Luzon which fired off in Quezon City and ended under searing heat here yesterday.

Bursting out of the pack early and breezing past Jeffrey Monton of Team Liquigaz and Joel Calderon of DPT Law in the final 100 meters, Martinez took the first of the seven-stage summer spectacle in three hours, 39 minutes and 58.12 seconds – realizing a life-long dream of wearing the symbolic yellow jersey.

“I’m sure I would be closely watched by my opponents but I’ll do my best to hold on to it as long as I can,” said Martinez, an Air Force duty sergeant and a former member of the local trade team that competed in multi-staged road races in Asia three years ago.

Martinez also towed 7-Eleven to the team general classification lead.

The 19-year-old Monton trailed Martinez and Calderon from Teresa in Rizal but lost steam in the face of Martinez’s blistering sprint in the stretch. He settled for second in 3:40:03.12 while Calderon, a Tarlaqueño like Martinez, checked in third in 3:40:08.12.

Martinez will wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his pro career as the tour goes to Tagaytay in Stage Two today.

Calderon, a buddy of Martinez, picked himself up from a crash 20-km to the finish line on a busy Maharlika Road near the old Lucena City Hall.

“I made my move in the first 25 kilometers and Monton trailed me all throughout,” said Martinez, who also campaigned in road races in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, in Filipino.

Martinez pocketed P5,000 for his lap win in this event organized by Liquigaz and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association.

Sen. Francis Escudero, Quezon City Rep. Nanette Castelo-Daza and Councilor Winnie Castelo flagged off the 90-racer field at 9 a.m. in simple rites at the QC Elliptical Road in front of the QC Hall.

Except for Calderon’s minor spill, the 136-km race was relatively smooth for the riders, who endured two Category 2 climbs – one in Laguna and the other in the outskirts of Quezon – and the summer heat.

While some new faces made their presence felt in Day 1, the fancied bets, including former Tour champions Rhyan Tanguilig of Liquigaz, Warren Davadilla of Regasco, Arnel Quirimit of Happy Nuts and Santy Barnachea of Mobile Wonders coasted along the main pack as they warmed up for the tougher grinds ahead.

Tanguilig, the 2004 winner who arrived just three days from Dubai where he worked for four years, finished outside of the top 20 along with Davadilla, the 1998 and 2006 titlist, 2003 winner Quirimit and 2005 champion Barnachea with a time of 3:42:57.41.

Lloyd Reynante of American Vinyl came in fifth in the company of veteran Sherwin Diamsay of Road Bike-7-Eleven in 3:42:28.05.

Also failing to figure prominently among the top finishers in the initial stage were skippers Dante Cagas (Road Bike-7-Eleven), Oscar Rendole (Geo State/The Beacon), Baler Ravina (Batang Tagaytay) and Merculio Ramos (My Photo).