Lim 5th in Delhi Asian cycling

MANILA, Philippines - Rustom Lim of LBC Cycling Pilipinas turned in a joint fifth place effort but Roland Oranza struggled to finish a dismal 26th in the 142-km road race in the Asian Cycling Championship in New Delhi, India Saturday.

Lim, a 19-year-old find from Guimba, Nueva Ecija, checked in along with 19 other riders in three hours, five minutes, 17 seconds, 59 seconds behind eventual winner Ali Khademi of Iran (3:04.18).

Khademi actually finished with the same time as Nurmelav Kulimbetov and Vladislav Gurbunov both of Kazakhstan but the Iranian edged the two Kazakhs in a mad dash to the finish to clinch top honors.

Hong Kong’s Cheung King Lok wound up fourth overall in 3:04.22.

But while Lim proved his worth in the 23-under group, Oranza, 20, failed to match his impressive eighth place finish in the Individual Time Trial a couple of days before. 

Still, LBC Cycling Pilipinas’ American coach Chris Allison lauded the two Filipino riders’ performance in the event.

“It’s not so bad considering we came here with just two riders while the other countries sent in a maximum of four,” said Allison.

Lim and Oranza were part of the PLDT-Spyder team that finished third overall in the team race of the Ronda Pilipinas 2013 last month. 

In Ronda, Oranza finished third overall in the individual race behind Irish Valenzuela of LPGMA-American Vinyl and second placer Ronald Gorrantes of Roadbike Phl.