Barnachea coasts home virtual champ

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines  – Eastern Pangasinan’s Santy Barnachea kept his pursuers in check with another gutsy ride in the mountains and hurdled the last stumbling block to his quest for cycling glory in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas here yesterday.

Barnachea, who wrested the overall lead with a strong fourth place finish in the crucial Vigan-Baguio Stage Nine Thursday, chased the breakaway group that included his chief rivals for the top P1 million purse and finished tied at 14th with one-hour, 48-minute, 45.9-second clocking in the 46.4 km Stage 10 that started in Agoo, La Union and ended at Lake Drive at Burnham Park.

“I just stayed closely behind the breakaway group that included some of my chief rivals,” said the 35-year-old Barnachea, who also won a four-leg cycling event in 2002 and an eight-lap meet in 2006, in Filipino.

“Barring any trouble, the title is mine now,” said Barnachea.

Although Nueve Ecija’s skipper Joel Calderon, the six-stage leader whom Barnachea toppled in the ninth leg, chopped off some four minutes to the new leader’s previous 10-minute lead, Barnachea remained in control with a six-minute lead heading to the last two stages of the 12-leg circuit – a pair of relatively easy rides with no major shakeup expected.

After 10 stages, Barnachea pooled a total time of 32:14:31, more than six minutes ahead of Calderon, who wrested the second spot after tumbling down from the top to No. 3 with a mediocre performance in the Vigan-Baguio run. Calderon had an aggregate clocking of 32:20:59.

Still, Barnachea remains wary of his title chances, stressing the importance of his teammates to help preserve his lead – and clinch the win.

“I will definitely need their help in the last two stages,” said Barnachea.

Mark John Lexer Galedo, recruited by 7-Eleven after winning another tour crown two years ago, took the lap honors and the top P50,000 purse after he clocked 1:42:29, over two minutes ahead of his team captain Lloyd Lucien Reynante and Barnachea’s teammate Baler Ravina, who submitted identical 1:44:48 clockings.

“I’m happy to have finally won at least one stage in this event,” said the 26-year-old Galedo.

Rounding up the Top 10 are Phl Under-23’s George Oconer (32:21:16), Cycleline Extreme-Butuan City’s March McQuinn Aleonar (32:21:45), Reynante (32:22:40), Ravina (32:22:56), American Vinyl’s Cris Joven (32:25:41), Tarlac’s Tomas Martinez (32:26:55), American Vinyl’s Rudy Roque (32:27:34) and the National Capital Region’s Frederick Feliciano (32:30:41).

Irish Valenzuela of 7-Eleven finished fourth in the lap but crowned himself the Magnolia Purewater King of the Mountain champion, besting Galedo and Tarlac’s Daniel Asto.

It was the 24-year-old Valenzuela’s third KOM title since winning it five years ago in his rookie year when he also finished second overall. He also topped the 2008 Manila-Baguio race.

But it failed to catapult Valenzuela, also the leading rider in the Air Asia Sprint category, back into the Top 10 after a poor finish in Stage Nine where he tumbled down from No. 3 overall to No. 23.

“It was my worst performance,” said Valenzuela, who also won the Tour of Camsur early this year.

The 7-Eleven riders, meanwhile, made a big move in the team event yesterday as Galedo, Reynante and Valenzuela all finished among the top four but it came a bit too late to dislodge American Vinyl, which has built enough cushion to secure the top P1 million prize. American Vinyl has an aggregate time of 96:54:50.

Reynante and his crew, however, moved up to No. 2 from No. 4 with a time of 97:07:05 followed by Tarlac (97:14:03) and Nueva Ecija (97:15:34).

The other squads in the top 10 were Eastern Pangasinan (97:39:10), Cebu (97:42:55), NCR Standard (97:45:30), W&C Pangasinan (97:49:14), Cycleline Extreme-Butuan (98:06:22) and Ilocos Sur (98:15:06).

Ronda resumes today with the penultimate 129.6 km Baguio-Angeles City, Pampanga Stage 11 while the last leg is a 41.4 km Angeles-Manila Stage 12 tomorrow, a pair of relatively easy laps with no major shakeup expected.

The 12-leg, 20-day event is offering a total cash pot of P7 million with the individual and team champions receiving P1 million apiece courtesy of main sponsor LBC Hari ng Padala and backers Rudy Project, Air Asia.com, Magnolia Purewater, Versa two-way radios and Starlite Ferries, Inc. with The Philippine STAR, C! and AKTV as media partners.