Baguio City—This time, Daniel Ven Cariño of Go For Gold proved to his older brother that he can hold his own in the steep mountainous climb towards the Burnham finish here.
The 21-year-old Daniel, the younger brother of Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance rider El Joshua Cariño, stuck it out with the Navymen as they assaulted the last 64-kilometer of uphill roads heading into Baguio City.
Cariño’s efforts paid off as he earned Stage 8 honors of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race of this 170.6 km ride from Palayan, Nueva Ecija.
As Cariño celebrated his best finish since he first join the Ronda bikefest last year, Navyman George Oconer stayed on top of overall individual classification for a fourth straight day and is poised to claim the general classification plum, with still two stages left.
The Mangaldan, Pangasinan-born Cariño finally took charge in the final kilometer and led a 10-man breakaway group that reached the Burnham Park road final stop in four hours, 30 minutes and four seconds.
“Sunud-sunod lang kami sa Navy. Dinadala nila kasi. Pino-protektahan nila iyung overall,” said Cariño. “Dito na ako sa last kilometer humataw,” added Carino.
Philippine Army Bicycology’s Marvin Tapic and Go For Gold’s Jonel Carcueva were in second and third spot in a group 10 riders that crossed the finish.
Another Go For Gold rider, Ismael Grospe, emerged fourth.
The Navymen, led by Junrey Navarra, Ronald Oranza, Ronald Lomotos, John Mark Camingao, El Joshua Cariño and Oconer, stayed together and finished from sixth to 10th places.
Overall leader Oconer will just have to protect his lead in the last two stages of this race presented by LBC and backed by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation.
“Sa samahan namin para kaming magkakapatid. Alam na namin iyon. Kaya sa tulong na rin ng mga ka-team ko, nagpapasalamat ako,” said Oconer, who was second and third overall in previous competitions of the Ronda bikefest.
The final two stages will be the 176.4-km Pugo, La Union massed start, while Stage 10 is a criterium race. Both will formalize Oconer’s claim to the overall crown.
The elder Cariño, on the other hand, took the King of the Mountain honors in the 162.6-km mark in Pugo, Benguet, before he let the younger Daniel Ven take the lead.
Oconer kept his 75-second advantage over his teammate Oranza intact in the overall standings, with Lomotos, Camingao, Navarra and and Cariño from third to sixth places.
The Navymen’s dominant stand led to some changes in the seventh to 10th places, with former leader Mark Julius Bordeos of Bicycology and Rustom Lim of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines slipping down the standings.
Carcueva moved from ninth to seventh in 27:39:59, while Daniel Ven Cariñ o climbed from 12th to eighth in 27:40:21,
Grospe jumped from 10th to ninth in 27:40:23 and Tapic barged into No. 10 from 20th in 27:42:55.
The Navymen are now poised to claim the team crown for the sixth straight time with their good showing in Stage 8.
The event offering P1 million for the individual champion, is supported by Palayan, Nueva Ecija, 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.
