ANTIPOLO, Philippines - – Santy Barnachea showed flashes of his old brilliance as he finished second to Baler Ravina in the 171.1km Stage Three yesterday and snatched the overall lead from George Oconer Jr. in the Ronda Pilipinas 2015 that started in Lucena and ended in front of the Provincial Capitol here.
Displaying the form and willpower that helped propel him to the inaugural crown in 2011, the 38-year-old Barnachea stuck with Ravina approaching the Sierra Madre mountain ranges and never lost grip as they checked in in four hours and 35.46 minutes. Ravina, however, nipped the seasoned campaigner for lap honors.
“It’s a nice feeling being on top again. Hopefully I could sustain it,” said Barnachea in Pilipino.
The Umingan, Pangasinan native has assembled an aggregate clocking of 9:37:00 after three stages, now eight minutes ahead of erstwhile solo leader and Stage One winner Oconer of PSC-PhilCycling, who had 9:45:00.
Ravina, from Asingan, Pangasinan, also moved up in the overall ranking after the stage, his first in Ronda, taking the No. 12 spot from No. 24 after Sunday’s two-stage races with a 9:53:04 clocking. He also pocketed P30,000.
A noted mountain climber, Ravina remains upbeat of his chances despite standing eight minutes off the pace, hinting at a bigger performance in the final stage in Baguio.
“We’ll see what happens in Baguio,” said the 32-year-old Ravina.
Last year’s champion Reimon Lapaza of Cycleline-Butuan, meanwhile, kissed his title retention bid goodbye after he bowed out of the race approaching Luisiana, Laguna due to exhaustion.
Barnachea will thus have one man less to watch out.
Army’s Cris Joven is at No. 3 in 9:45:29 while Navy teammate Ronald Oranza, who topped the 120.5-km Calamba-Atimonan Stage Two Sunday, takes the No. 4 spot with a 9:45:41 clocking.
Rounding up the top 10 are Navy’s Jan Paul Morales (9:47:03), Navy’s Jhon Mark Camingao (9:49.22), Cebu-VMobile’s Rey Nelson Martin (9:52.09), Navy’s Lloyd Lucien Reynante (9:52.12), Army’s Irish Valenzuela (9:52.22) and Cebu-VMobile’s Elmer Navarro (9:52.22).
Mark Galedo, the 2012 winner and last year’s second placer, remained outside of the top 10, pooling a 9:54:25 time for No. 15.
Leading the category races are Morales (Blue Petron sprint), Ravina (Polka dot Mitsunishi KOM), Daniel Ven Carino (17-18 years old) and Camingao (White Standard insurance U-23).
The race is presented by LBC and supported by major sponsors the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Mitsubishi and minor sponors Cannondale, Standard Insurance, Tech1 Corp., Maynilad, NLEX and NLEX Cycling and sanctioned by PhilCycling under Cavite Congressman Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino with TV5 and Sports Radio as media partners.
For updates, check Ronda Pilipinas’ official Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/RondaPilipinas, and Twitter account, @rondapilipinas.