Obscure riders steal show

VIGAN, Philippines – Unheralded riders grabbed stage honors yesterday as “MVP” yellow jersey holder Santy Barnachea and his chief rivals took a leisurely ride, saving their energy for the ultimate tests in the Benguet mountains in the last two stages of the 2009 Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions. 

American Vinyl teammates Lloyd Bersame and Ronnel Hualda finished first and second in the 160km Vigan-Laoag-Vigan race which hardly made a dent in the overall individual standings.

Barnachea and the top challengers opted to stay with the main pack, thus, keeping their respective posts before the penultimate stage that will have them taking their first Baguio climb via Naguilian road.

The consensus among the riders is that Baler Ravina and Eric Feliciano are the favorites in the last two stages that could well determine the champion in the eight-stage summer cycling event presented by Tanduay with Air21 and Smart-PLDT as major sponsors.

“Nobody made a move today. Everybody just warmed up for the Baguio battle. That’s the moment of truth for us,” said Barnachea.

The former two-time tour champion himself pointed to Ravina and Feliciano as the biggest threats but he didn’t discount his own mountain-climbing prowess.

“I’ve placed second in Baguio-Baguio stage three times already so they can’t take me for granted. If I were in top shape I’d be a serious threat,” said Barnachea, first runner-up in the killer stage in 1998, 2005 and 2006.

Ravina and Feliciano are fancied riders in the Baguio-Baguio stage since both have topped this race before. Ravina won the stage in the recently held Liquigaz Tour of Luzon.

Tour officials and veterans, meanwhile, believe the fight for the championship remains wide open even among riders outside the Top 10.

“The tour virtually starts from scratch tomorrow,” said chief commissaire Renato del Mundo, a UCI continental commissaire who is assisted on the commissaire panel by Fernando Balang, Jun Lomibao, Carlos Gredonia and Juancho Ramores.

Making up the Top 10 going to Benguet today are Barnachea, Feliciano, who is only one minute and 30 seconds behind, Oscar Rindole (two minutes off), Ravina (2:17), Lloyd Reynante (2:44), Joel Calderon (2:55), Renato Sembrano (3:19), Warren Davadilla (4:29), Hualda (5:26) and Nicardo Guanzon (5:39).

The big guns who could still wage a rally are Irish Valenzuela (6:10), Arnel Quirimit (9:32) and Merculio Ramos (11:12).

With the top bets just coasting along, Bersame, Hualda, Ericson Obosa, Jemico Bioso, Ryan Cantor and Hilson Mangahis seized the moment, breaking away from the pack after the Laoag U-turn.

Bersame, a 21-year-old tour neophyte from Gingoog, Misamis Oriental, stepped up the pace in the last three kilometers for a solo finish.

Hualda endured bruises he suffered in a spill in Narvacan Tuesday, finishing 10 seconds behind the stage winner and thus creating minor movement in the leader board, jumping from 11th to ninth.

With Bersame and Hualda finishing 1-2 and Reynante completing the stage in the fourth group, American Vinyl managed to draw some attention in the team general classification which offers P500,000 to the winning squad.

American Vinyl ruled the stage in 11:15:38.884 to close in on overall leader Ube Media, whose lead from the Reynante-captained squad went from a little over seven minutes to only 49.956 seconds after Stage 6.

Columbia Sportswear kept third overall in the team race (22:50.018), while Tanduay climbed one rung up to fourth (25:39.559). Burger King also wrested fifth spot (28:12.828), Wow Magic Sing leapt from ninth to sixth (32:10.759).