Excellent Noodles' Tugawin back in Ronda contention with Stage 2 win

BALER, Aurora — Ryan Tugawin was living a simple life with simple dreams as a farmer in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. And then he discovered cycling and began to have dreams of grandeur.

Carrying with him that ambition, Tugawin claimed the second stage win of his life as he reigned supreme in the 174.5-kilometer Tarlac-Baler Stage Seven in the 11th LBC Ronda Pilipinas Thursday.

The 32-year-old Tugawin timed in four hours, 31 minutes and 16 seconds in snaring the stage triumph, his second in this annual cycling spectacle after topping the Sorsogon-Legazpi Stage Two a couple of years back.

Tugawin edged El Joshua Carino of Navy Standard Insurance, who clocked the same time, and Marcelo Felipe of Team Nueva Ecija, who wound up third at 4:31:18.

The recent feat sent Tugawin back into the top 10 at 23:31:29 after falling out of it due to a minor mishap in the Daet-Lucena Stage Five Sunday.

And the recent feat kept Tugawin’s dream of making it big in the sport someday alive.

“I could have been in the top five until now if I hadn’t encountered mechanical problems in Stage Five,” said Tugawin, who was third in Sorsogon-Legazpi Stage Three last Saturday.

“But I’m back in the top 10 and I’m still hopeful of achieving my dream of becoming a champion here,” he added.

While Tugawin chased his aspiration, Ronald Oranza of Navy Standard Insurance successfully foiled his closest rivals’ bid to snatch the overall lead from him, finished in a group that checked in at fourth in the stage in 4:32:18 and kept his stranglehold of the No. 1 spot at 23:18:22.

Jan Paul Morales of Excellent Noodles edged Oranza in the King of the Mountain lap in the mountain passes of Aurora but couldn’t shake off the latter to stay at No. 2 at 23:19:04.

Jonel Carcueva of Go for Gold was with the same pack as Oranza and Morales and sat at No. 3 at 23:21:19.

The 2018 Ronda titlist will continue to don the red LBC jersey in today’s 174.4km Baler-Echague, Isabela Stage Eight where the marked riders are expected to keenly guard one another.

“It will be the same in the next stage. But I think the winner will be decided in Baguio,” said Oranza referring to the Santiago City-Baguio Stage Nine where they would tackle the dangerous ascents in the backdoor to Baguio from Bayombong Saturday.

Rounding out the top 10 were Ronald Lomotos of Standard Insurance (23:27:22), Felipe (23:28:09), Carino (23:29:28), Jeremy Lizardo of Navy Standard Insurance (23:29:39), Tugawin (23:31:29) and Go for Gold’s Jericho Jay Lucero (23:32:13) and Daniel Ven Carino (23:33:24).

Navy Standard Insurance was untouchable in the team race with a clocking of 67:17:49 followed by Excellent Noodles (67:31:05) and Go for Gold (67:43:00).

This annual event stakes a P3.5 million cash pot including P1 million to the champion courtesy of LBC Express, Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Quad X, Smart, Twin Cycle Gear, Standard Insurance, Print2Go, Elves Bicycles, Elitewheels, Orome, Maynilad, PhilHydro, Garmin, Petron, Boy Kanin, Green Planet Bikeshop, Prolite, Fujiwara, Black Mamba Energy Drink, Lightwater, LBC Foundation, PhilCycling and the Games and Amusements Board.