Gorantes climbs to second place as erstwhile leader Oranza drops to third

Irish Valenzuela of the American Vinyl-LPGMA team ruled yesterday ‘s Individual Time Trial stage 15 of the Ronda Pilipinas 2013, which was a 34-kilometer race from Pugo, La Union to Baguio City.

Valenzuela, thus, regained the overall lead in the individual classification after finishing yesterday’s race in one hour, 23 minutes and 18 seconds.

Mark John Lexer Galedo of Road Bike Philippines placed second with a time of 1:24.18 while teammate Ronald Gorantes wound up third, clocking 1:24.48.

Valenzuela now has a good one-minute and 10-second advantage against current second-placer Gorantes in the overall individual classification going to today’s all-important finale of the month-long, 16-stage race.

The final leg will be a 67.2-kilometer criterium race within Baguio City. At third overall is stage 10 to 13 winner Ronald Oranza.

Meanwhile, after two of its riders bagged podium finishes yesterday, Roadbike Philippines took the top spot in the overall team classification, pushing Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance to second place and PLDT-Spyder to third. Going into the 15th stage, PLDT-Spyder was holding the lead with Philippine Navy at second and Roadbike at third.

Completing the top 10 of yesterday’s race were stage five winner El Joshua Carino, stage 14 winner from Team Mindanao Cycle Line Butuan Junrey Navarra, Oranza, Daniel Asto, Lloyd Lucien Reynante and Santy Barnachea of the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance and Jonipher Ravina of Road Bike Philippines, respectively.