Navy-Standard Insurance claims Ronda Team Time Trial

Navy-Standard Insurance claims the victory in the Team Time Trial

Navy Standard Insurance topped Stage Eight Team Time Trial of the 2018 edition of Ronda Pilipinas earlier today, starting off at the Provincial Capitol of Tarlac and ending 42.1 kilometers later at the Tarlac Recreational Park in 56.17 minutes.

They were about three minutes ahead of Go for Gold Developmental, with Army-Bicycology in third place clocking in at 1:00:10.

Their dominance was not without a little bit of hardship. Already down a cyclist with Ronald Lomotos being disqualified yesterday during the individual time trial for drafting, Navy topped the stage with the minimum four cyclists running together in current overall leader Ronald Oranza, defending champion Jan Paul Morales, Junrey Navarra, and Archie Cardana. Navy's remaining cyclists Rudy Roque, John Mark Camingao, and El Joshua Carino all struggled during the stage and were left behind.

Morales shares in Filipino, "Since only the fourth rider’s time will count in the TTT we had to drag Cardana near the finish line." He adds, "I think it’s ours already."

Navy-Standard Insurance has an aggregate time of 82:19:52, ahead of Go for Gold Developmental at 82:52:24 and Army-Bicycology at 82:52:24.

Cyclists will be taking a three-day break before the grind resumes with the four remaining stages:

207.2-km Silang-Tagaytay Stage 9 on Thursday
147.8-km Tagaytay-Calaca Stage 10 on Friday
92.72-km Calaca-Calaca Stage 11 on Saturday
Filinvest Alabang Stage 12 criterium on Sunday

The 2018 edition of Ronda Pilipinas is presented by LBC and supported by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, Philippine Rabbit, CCN, Petron, Versa.ph, 3Q Sports Event Management, Inc., Boy Kanin, Franzia, Standard Insurance, Bike Xtreme, SH+, Guerciotti, Prolite, Green Planet, Maynilad, NLEX Sports, Lightwater, LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.

The champion gets to win a million PhP.