Aquino snatches overall lead

NAGA CITY, Philippines — All this time, Jerry Aquino has been dreaming of wearing the leader’s jersey.

He’ll do in today’s Stage Four of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas from Daet, Camarines Norte to Lucena City in Quezon.

With the ride of his life, Aquino seized his very first lap victory and his first ever opportunity to wear the LBC leader’s jersey, besting Ronnel Hualda of Go for Gold and Dominic Perez of Bicycology-Army in another mass finish to rule the 119km Stage Three that started in Legazpi City and ended at the Panganiban Drive here.

Aquino and the rest of the 55-man peloton timed in two hours, 47 minutes and 12 seconds  but he moved up from second to the top with a bonus of 10 precious seconds on his stage victory.

Through three stages, Aquino had a total clocking of 9:43:39.

He bumped off Bicycology’s Mark Julius Bordeos, the two-day leader who fell to second in 9:43:46 in this 10-stage spectacle presented by LBC and supported by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation.

After a long wait, Aquino has realized his dream.

“It was a dream come true for me. I will be happy for the rest of my life even if I lose the jersey tomorrow (today),” said Aquino, son of former Marlboro Tour campaigner Jerry Sr.

For the third straight day, the stage winner benefited from the fierce showdown between 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines and Standard Insurance-Navy, two teams out to claim cycling supremacy in the country.

And Aquino was happy to be the recipient of it.

“It was intense, we thought there would be crashes,” said Aquino. “We just stayed behind and waited for the flat roads before we made our move. I was lucky I got into a better position in the end.”

Expectedly, Roel Quitoy of Celeste Cycles, Junrey Navarra of Standard and Ronnilan Quita of Go for Gold displayed the mountain-climbing skills they are known for as they conquered the treacherous ascents in Sugnay, Camarines Sur with the view of the breath-taking Misibis Bay.

But the troika slowed down on the descent, allowing Aquino and the main group to catch up in the final 20km stretch in this event backed by Versa, 8A Performance, Print2Go, Petron, Green Planet, Bike Xtreme, Standard Insurance, Spyder, CCN, Lightwater, Prolite, Guerciotti, Black Mamba, Boy Kanin, Vitamin Boost, NLEX-SCTEX, Maynilad, 3Q Sports Event Management Inc., LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.

Then Aquino made his move.

George Oconer of Standard remained at No. 3 in 9:43:52, ahead of bitter rivals from 7Eleven — Rustom Lim (9:43:52), Mark Galedo (9:43:59), Aidan James Mendoza (9:44:05), Marcelo Felipe (9:44:08) and Mervin Corpuz (9:44:08).

Then there are Alvin Benosa of Celeste Cycles Phl Dev Pro Team (9:44:09) and Jester Neli Mendoza of Bicycology (9:44:13).