Ronald Oranza, Jan Paul Morales gear up for fierce duel

ECHAGUE, Isabela, Philippines — Ronald Oranza and Jan Paul Morales set aside their team alliance to bolster their respective drives in individual competition as the Navy-Standard Insurance stalwarts dispute the lead at resumption of Ronda Pilipinas 2018 presented by LBC today.

The 179.4-km Stage Five firing off at the Echague Municipal Hall here and ending at the San Jose City Hall in Nueva Ecija promises to be a thrilling stage with Oranza out to preserve his lead and the second-running Morales seeking to close the gap or grab the red LBC jersey.

Oranza, 26, stayed on top after four legs with victories in Vigan and Pagudpud stops, pooling an aggregate time of 13 hours, 33 minutes, 21 seconds while the three-peat seeking Morales ruled the Tuguegarao-Echague Stage Four and moved five minutes and a second behind with 13:38:22.

“I’m expecting it, I just have to be ready,” said Oranza when asked how he would handle Morales’ expected charge.

While admitting he would continue to chase Oranza, Morales said his focus is on helping a teammate win the P1M jackpot in the event presented by LBC and backed by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, CCN, Petron, Versa.ph, 3Q Sports Event Management, Inc., Boy Kanin, Franzia, Standard Insurance, Bike Xtreme, SH+, Guerciotti, Prolite, Green Planet, Maynilad, NLEX Sports, Lightwater, LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.

“Of course, I’m still confident of my chances. But should someone else win it, I hope he’s someone from my Navy team,” said Morales.

The Navymen have dominated the early going of the 12-stage tour with three more mainstays – Ronald Lomotos, Jhon Mark Camingao and Rudy Roque – in Top 10.

Lomotos is at fifth with a clocking of 13:40:57, Camingao is at No. 8 (13:41:50) and Roque, last year’s runner-up, is at No. 9 (13:42:44).

Others expected to launch their attack are Jay Lampawog (No. 3-13:40:16) of Go for Gold Developmental team, Cris Joven (No. 4-13:40:35) of Army-Bicycology, Irish Valenzuela (No. 6-13:41:22) of CCN Superteam, Ronnel Hualda (No. 7-13:41:34) of Go for Gold and Leonel Dimaano (No. 10-13:43:11) of Team Franzia.