Oranza eighth in Asian cycling ITT in New Delhi

MANILA, Philippines - Ronald Oranza of the LBC Cycling Pilipinas showed top form and finished a eighth out of 23 participants in the 28.4-kilometer individual time trial of the Asian Cycling Championship in New Delhi, India Thursday.

Oranza, 20, clocked  36 minutes, 59. 199 seconds that was good for eighth or over two and half minutes behind eventual winner Daniil Fominyk of Kazakhstan (34:27.855).

Oranza, who finished third in last month’s Ronda Pilipinas 2013 while steering the young PLDT-Spyder squad to third in the overall team race, hopes to do better as he and Rustom Lim join today’s 140-km road race for under-23 riders.

“It’s a tough race, the individual time trial, because the best in Asia competed,” said Chris Allison, the American coach of LBC Cycling Pilipinas, which has partnered with the MVP Sports Foundation.

“Our goal is always to win but finishing eighth out of 23 participants is really not bad. We’re very hopeful in the road race,” he added.

Finishing in the podium were Vietnam’s Trinh Duc Tam and Korea’s Kim Jaeyeon, who timed  34:37.079 and 35:27.195, for second and third places, respectively.

Other finishers were Japan’s Genki Yamamoto (36.09.960), Iraq’s Al Sammaraie (36:15.034), Hong Kong’s King Lok Cheung (36:23.798) and Uzbekistan’s Denis Shaymanov (36:52.438).

Oranza was actually being eyed to represent the country in the 200-km road race for elite riders while Lim in the U-23 side but the duo ended up joining the youth race.

“We’re proud of the team and we will support them all the way,” said LBC Cycling Pilipinas team manager Moe Chulani.