Pinoy riders falter in vital Tour stage

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino riders succumbed to strong foreign opposition and tumbled down the standings in the penultimate stage of the Tour de Borneo in Sabah, Malaysia Wednesday.

LBC-MVPSF’s Ronaldo Lomotos, who kept the No. 3 spot in the past two days, fell with a thud to No. 55th with a poor finish with Mark Galedo of 7Eleven-Roadbike Phl emerging as the top Filipino finisher at 10th in the punishing 147.1-km Kota Kinabalu-Kundasang Stage 4.

But Galedo, winner of Ronda Pilipinas’ second edition, dropped from seventh overall to No. 10 with a clocking of four hours, 44 minutes, 12.09 minutes behind eventual lap winner Ghader Iranagh Mizbani of TPT.

Mizani beat TPT teammate Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour for lap honors. Both timed in 4:31.51. HGP’s Joseph Cooper of New Zealand came in third with 4:38.16.

Galedo now has an aggregate time of 15:28.37 going into the final lap of this five-day meet while Lomotos pooled a 16.04.25-hour clocking.

Junrey Navarra of LBC-MVP Sports Foundation Cycling Pilipinas, the other Phl Asian Continental team fielded in this annual race, wound up 14th in 4:47.30 and slid to 14th overall with a total time of 15:32.11.

7Eleven-Roadbike Phl’s Boots Ryan Cayubit stood at No. 18 and Marcelo Felipe at No. 21, Baler Ravina at No. 25 and Mark Julius Bordeos at No. 30 and LBC-MVPSF teammates Rustom Lim at No. 24.

Cayubit, meanwhile, ended up third in the only intermediate sprint race of the day – a 76.2-km stretch in Tambunan – behind Mizbani and Purseyedigolakhour.

Navarra, who wore the red jersey symbolic of the KOM lead in the first two stages, was dislodged from the top in the King of the Mountain race which Mizbani also dominated.

LBC-MVPSF’s Ronald Oranza, fourth overall after Stage One and 10th after the third leg, fell to 41st ahead of teammate El Joshua Carino.