Luzon, Go 21 teammates dominate team time trial

SAN FERNANDO, La Union, Philippines – Bernard Luzon and his Go 21 team flashed the best time in the team time trial race even as the Oscar Rindole-skippered UBE Media squad finished a strong fifth to retain the overall team classification lead halfway through the eight-stage 2009 Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions Invitational Challenge.

Luzon and his teammates clocked 1:39’03.581 in ruling the short TTT stage from Dagupan City to this bustling port city, considered the lull before the storm with two long stages in the Ilocandia heartland and two Baguio climbs making the last four stages of the summer road spectacle offering P500,000 to the team champion and P100,000 to the individual winner.

There were hardly major movements in the team standings after the 71km TTT race which had no bearing on the individual race being led by Air21’s Santy Barnachea, followed by Rindole, Tanduay’s Baler Ravina, American Vinyl’s Lloyd Reynante then Cargohaus’ Frederick Feliciano.

The chase for the coveted individual championship resumes today as the field tackles the 139km fifth stage from here to Vigan.

Luzon, Eusebio Quinones, Martin Rey, Orly Villanueva and Allan Ricafort proved to have a balanced strength and power, riding as one throughout in topping the first TTT event featured in the tour in the last five years.

“We really worked as a team. We helped pull one another,” said Luzon.

“We showed good teamwork in this race. Somehow, we had an advantage, being familiar with each other. In fact, Martin Rey and I were part of the team that topped the team time trial race of another event in 2007,” said Quinones.

Feliciano and his Cargohaus teammates finished second, followed by American Vinyl, Columbia Sportswear, Tanduay and UBE Media. The first six teams came in separated by only a few seconds.

The front-running UBE Media clocked 1:40’54.661 for a four-day aggregate of 37:22’12.384, six minutes and 47 seconds ahead of American Vinyl.

Columbia Sportswear remained at third, followed by Air21, Tanduay, Burger King, Smart Buddy, Mail and More, Wow Magic Sing, Go 21, Gin Kapitan, U-Freight, Cargohaus, Solarlina and Navray.

Paquito Rivas, the former Tour champion and Eagle of the Mountain who heads the race management group Philippine National Cycling Association, was impressed on what the riders have shown so far in the race presented by Tanduay with Smart-PLDT and Air21 as major sponsors.

“The riders are doing good halfway through the race. They have been registering fast times despite certain conditions of the routes such as stretches that are under rehabilitation or heavy traffic,” said Rivas.

“Their performance on flat is promising and we have sprinters who are maintaining their specialty while the rest are showing potentials to excel further. The eighth stage (Baguio) remains the most crucial though,” Rivas added.