Ronald Oranza bags Ronda plum, P1million

MANILA, Philippines — Ronald Oranza capped his superb Ronda Pilipinas performance with a strong runner-up finish in the Stage 12 criterium to officially claim the crown worth P1 million before a huge Sunday crowd at the Filinvest, Alabang.

Oranza fought it out with a slew of others at the finish, barely yielding stage honors to dethroned back-to-back champion and teammate Jan Paul Morales. They, however, posted identical clockings of one hour, 28 minutes, 15 seconds with Oranza clinching his first Ronda title with a total aggregate time of 34:11:23.

That was 11 minutes ahead of 2015-16 winner Morales, who ended up with 34:22:56 in the annual bikathon presented by LBC and supported by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, Philippine Rabbit, 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.

The new champion from Villasis, Pangasinan also received P300,000 worth of Boy Kanin franchise and the beautifully crafted trophy as he joined the elite roster of Ronda winners, including Morales, Santy Barnachea of Team Franzia, Irish Valenzuela of CCN Superteam, Mac Galedo and Reimon Lapaza.

On his way to victory, Oranza posted nine podium finishes he highlighted with lap victories in the Vigan Stage One criterium, Vigan-Pagudpud Stage Two and the Tarlac Stage Seven Individual Time Trial.

He took a comfortable lead heading to the last four stages of the event, the three of which were regarded as killer laps. But Oranza proved up to the challenge, turning in strong finishes to thwart his pursuers’ last-ditch bid.

Outpointed by Morales on Day One despite topping the stage, Oranza took over the next stage and never looked back.

“I can’t think of any words, I’m just happy,” said Oranza, who skipped last year’s race to focus on his national team duties.

Oranza later added he would invest his winnings on real estate and marry his girlfriend, Maribel Marzan, by whom he has a 14-month old son Ronald Jr.

“We were talking about settling down. After Ronda, I think it’s now time we should,” said Oranza.

Another Navy bet, Junrey Navara, checked in at third and got the same time with 31 others. He finished third overall at 34:33:06, completing a dominating 1-2-3 Navy finish to the delight of Standard Insurance president Ernesto Echauz.

Navara, a 26-year-old native of General Santos, also went home with his fourth CCN King of the Mountain plum while Morales earned the Petron Sprint King award.