Joven snares lead; Diamsay rules Stage 8

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines  – American Vinyl-LPGMA’s Cris Joven drew inspiration from his mother, an elder sister and legions of fellow Bicolanos at the starting line and rode with all his might to this coastal city to grab the overall lead in another changing of the guard in Stage 8 of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas yesterday.

 Joven, 26, checked in at third with a big group to wrest the red jersey even as Sherwin Diamsay snared his second lap victory and towed One Tarlac to the team lead in the second longest stage of the tour – a 209.2-kilometer endurance race from Daet, Camarines Norte to Lucena, passing the mountains of Sta. Elena and the steep climb on the winding roads of Tatlong Eme, now a national park.

“I saw my mother (Judith) and sister (Yolanda) and some relatives and friends before this stage and it gave me some inspiration,” said Joven, who finished in the Top 10 in last year’s inaugural Ronda staging, in Filipino.

Joven, winner of the General Santos-Davao Stage Two, was in the middle of the 16-man pack that wound up at No. 3 with identical clockings of five hours, 18 minutes, 12 seconds.

He surged to the overall lead with a total time of 32:49.51, leaving for good a spent Baler Ravina, who has been holding the symbolic jersey since his 227km Tagum-Butuan Stage Three win, going into today’s 155.1km Lucena-Antipolo City Stage 9.

Ravina, who was in the breakaway group in the first 50km mark before fizzling out, finished the leg in a logjam at No. 68. He cascaded down from atop the heap to just 18th overall, less than eight minutes off the pace.

After his downfall, Ravina said he’s given up chasing his first Tour title and the P1 million top purse that goes with it and said he would instead devote the rest of the stage supporting his team captain Mark John Lexer Galedo, running 10th overall.

“I really got tired protecting the red jersey,” said an emotional Ravina while holding on to his hurting left shoulder.

In a first hand demonstration of endurance, sprint and climbing skills, the 32-year-old Diamsay won the most punishing leg so far in the 15-stage, 20-day summer spectacle in 5:16:36.

It was the Purac, Tarlac native’s second stage triumph after also reigning in the 170km Tacloban-Calbayog Stage 6. He and Navy A-Standard’s Jan Paul Morales are the only two cyclists to win two stages in this race presented by LBC Express, Inc., which stakes a total pot of P7.5 million with P1 million each going to the individual and team winners.

“I feel great winning my second stage, it gives me confidence to perform well in the coming stages,” said Diamsay, who has now collected a total purse of P100,000 for these feats.

But more than the lap win, Diamsay, along with solid rides by teammates Merculio and Francisco Ramos, towed One Tarlac to the overall team lead, dislodging V-Mobile with a cumulative time of 97:35.31.

“It was part of our plan before this race, to attack early,” said One Tarlac coach Loreto Mandi, who is seeking his first win since starting mentoring several years back. “We’re happy to get to the top and hopefully we could protect the lead until the end.”

Another American Vinyl-LPGMA bet, Irish Valenzuela, also made his presence felt as he finished second in the lap in 5:18.02. He fortified his stranglehold of the king-of-the-mountain race with 24 points, a whopping 12 points ahead of closest pursuer Mark Galedo of Road Bike.

The 25-year-old Valenzuela, a native of Tabaco, Albay, shone the brightest in the ascent on the Tatlong Eme (Three Ms) or Bitukang Manok (chicken intestine) in Atimonan, Quezon.

“It’s really my specialty – mountain-climbing,” said Valenzuela, the inaugural Ronda’s King of the Mountain and last year’s Tour of Camsur champion.

Y101FM-Cebu’s Niño Surban, a bronze medalist in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia, stole some of the thunder by finishing third, his highest podium finish in his first Ronda appearance.

With the former leaders skidding, there was a major shakeup in the leaderboard with Metro Manila’s Ronald Gorantes jumping from No. 6 to No. 2 in 32:51.24. Rounding up the top 10 are V-Mobile’s Oscar Rindole (32:51.28), One Tarlac skipper Tomas Martinez (32:51.58), One Tarlac’s Joseph Millanes (32:52.16), V-Mobile’s Rey Martin (32:52.16), Mindanao’s Dexter Nonato (32:53.51) and Galedo (32:55.09).