PILI, Camarines Sur– Jaybop Pagnanawon of Bike Extreme showed impressive form as he topped the long, grueling Stage 5 Sunday in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 that started in Lucena City and ended at the Camsur Watersports Complex here.
Pagnanawon, son of former Tour king Rolando, displayed remarkable grit as he made his move just barely out of Camarines Norte, or 28 kms to the finish line, and then outsprinted Navy-Standard Insurance’s Daniel Ven Carino and RC Cola-NCR’s Leonel Dimaano when the two caught up with the former in the final stretch.
When the race ended, the 28-year-old Pagnanawon came up with his first stage victory in six hours, 58 minutes and 13 seconds, which was the same time of Carino, who is also a Cebu native like the former.
Dimaano checked in at No. 3 in 6:58:13.
Pagnanawon’s feat was made more impressive with the fact that Stage 5 was the longest lap in this 14-stage race at 251 kms.
“I was surprised that I still had it in the final 28 kms and just went for it when everyone was contented in pacing themselves up,” said Pagnanawon, whose father won the fabled Marlboro Tour in 1986.
Depsite his recent triumph, Pagnanawon, who worked as a bike instructor outside competing, however, is out of race for the overall individual honor after he encountered mechanical problems in the Angeles-Subic Stage 3 that sent him sliding from being in the Top 10 to outside the top 40.
“I got a little sadder because I will have to wait another year to chase my dream to become a champion like my father,” said Pagnanawon. “But I will stll try to win some stages if I get my chance again.”
Kinetix Lab-Army’s Lord Anthony del Rosario and Go 4 Gold’s Elmer Navarro finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with a clocking of 6:59:11 and 6:59:13, respectively.
Navy’s Ronald Lomotos wound up at No. 6 in 6:59:14 to regain his No. 2 spot overall, while Kinetix Lab-Army’s Cris Joven made true to his vow and finished seventh in 6:59:20 to jump from No. 9 before the stage to No. 7.
Red jersey wearer Rudy Roque of Navy was stuck in the peloton, but still managed to keep his grip on the lead with a total time of 18:12:48, or 59 seconds ahead of Lomotos with 18:13:47 and a little less than two minutes atop Carino.
Morales was also jammed in the main group that forced him conceded some minutes to Lomotos and Carino and skidded to No. 4 with 18:15:51, or just 17 seconds ahead of Joven, who is dangerous at No. 5 and only 3.20 minutes off the pace.
“I like my conditioning right now, I feel re-energized,” said the 30-year-old Joven, who is a proud son of Iriga, Camarines Sur, which is just a 45-minute ride from here.
Rounding up the Top 10 were Go 4 Gold’s Elmer Navarro (18:17:57), RC Cola-NCR’s Leonel Dimaano (18:18:01), Go 4 Gold’s Ismael Grospe, Jr. (18:19:02), Army’s Lord Anthony del Rosario (18:19:44) and Go 4 Gold’s Jonel Carcueva (18:20:33).
Navy continued to hold sway in the team race with an aggregate time of 72:48:47, leading Go 4 Gold (73:09:42) and Kinetix Lab-Army (18:20:33).
The race takes a breather today and will resume tomorrow with the 46.6-km Pili-San Jose Stage 6.
Ronda is staking P1 million to the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and in partnership with MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, Mitsubishi, Versa.ph, Partas, Maynilad, Standard Insurance, CCN, Bike Xtreme, NLEX, PhilCycling and 3Q Sports Event Management.
