Ronald Oranza of the PLDT-Spyder team barely outlasted his rivals to win the Tarlac to Olongapo Stage 7 of the Ronda Pilipinas 2013 yesterday.
Oranza escaped with the victory after he and American Vinyl-LPGMA’s Cris Joven and Road Bike Philippines’ Ronald Gorantes finished with identical times of four hours, 21 minutes and 57 seconds.
After reviewing the photo finish, Oranza emerged winner while Joven claimed second spot. Gorantes rounded off the top three placers.
The win gave Oranza the yellow jersey. He will also wear the blue jersey for being the overall best young rider and sprint king.
Irish Valenzuela of the American Vinyl-LPGMA team still is the overall individual leader despite finishing fifth yesterday. Oranza climbed to second in the overall race followed by Joven.
In the team race, Road Bike Philippines regained the top spot followed by American Vinyl-LPGMA and Philippine Navy, respectively.
From third place after stage six, Y101 FM Cebu dropped to fifth spot. Meanwhile, the team’s manager, Amis Urgel, was penalized yesterday and was fined with P3, 000 for disobeying the commisaire, irregular movement of their service car and feeding while passing the pack of riders along the route. Ilocos Sur manager Cipriano Cantos was also fined P1,000 for disobeying the commisaire.
Stage seven had a total distance of 180.5 kilometers. The eighth stage will be from Olongapo to Alaminos, Pangasinan with a total distance of 125 kilometers.