Obosa rules first stage of Ronda Pilipinas

ROAD Bike Philippines’ Ericson Obosa barely escaped tough rivals to top the first stage of the prestigious Ronda Pilipinas 2013 yesterday in Zamboanga.

Obosa finished the 134-kilometer race to Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay to take the yellow jersey entering the 141k second stage going to Pagadian City.

It was a photo finish for Obosa as he managed to escape with the win against four close competitors who registered a time of 3:07.08. Cris Joven of American Vinyl, Santy Barnachea of the Philippine Navy Standard Insurance, Vicente Vicmar of Cycle Line Butuan and Cebu’s Marvin Tapic of Y101 FM Cebu clocked the same time but Obosa was declared winner after reviewing the photos.

“We really had an exciting stage one because the race was tightly contested and the participants truly lived up to our expectations,” said LBC Ronda Pilipinas project director Moe Chulani. “Their timing chips registered the same official times that’s why depended on the photo finish.”

Rey Martin of V-Mobile Smart claimed the sixth spot but also had to bank on a photo since he finished with a time of 3:07.15, the same with teammate Oscar Randole and Tomas Martinez of Team One Tarlac.

The photo finishes didn’t end there as Sherwin Diamsay and Jemico Brioso of PLDT-Spyder clocked 3:09.17 and had to be settled via the photos to come up with a result. Diamsay eventually finished ninth while Brioso placed 10th.

In the team event, meanwhile, V-Mobile Smart took the top spot followed by Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance and Team One Tarlac.

Tapic was declared the best young rider in the first stage for finishing at the top five.  /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL