Morales takes initial Ronda lead

Stage 1 of the 2018 Ronda Pilipinas

Defending two-time champion Jan Paul Morales made no bones about his intention to become a three-time Ronda Pilipinas champion, as he claimed the Red Jersey after the first stage of Ronda Pilipinas earlier today in the historic city of Vigan.

The Navy-Standard Insurance cyclist shared the same time as teammate Ronald Oranza, who won the stage at one hour, eleven minutes, and twenty-two seconds, as they went through the fabled cobblestone street of Calle Crisologo as part of the 40-km criterium. Morales, though, will be wearing the symbolic red jersey as tour leader by topping the two intermediate sprints and finishing second, garnering a fifteen-second time bonus, putting his time at 1:11:06. He will be ahead of Oranza by three seconds when Stage 2 commences tomorrow morning.

Alongside the duo in the winning pack are Army-Bicycology's Alvin Benosa and Go For Gold's George Oconer. Oconer will be third with a 1:11:17, one second ahead of Benosa.

Oconer's teammate Jonel Carcueva fell off and finished fifth at 1:11:22.

The rest of the top ten are as follows:

Leonel Dimaano (Team Franzia) 1:12:45
Junrey Navarra (Navy-Standard Insurance) 1:12.45
Ismael Grospe, Jr. (Go for Gold Developmental) 1:12.45
Rudy Roque (Navy-Standard Insurance) 1:12.52
James Ferfas (Bike Xtreme) 1:12.52

Notable contenders Santy Barnachea, Irish Valenzuela, and Cris Joven are back in the pack with slow starts in their attempts to dethrone Morales.

Two-time champ Barnachea is under two minutes off the pace at 36th, while Valenzuela is 18th with just over 100 seconds behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Joven will start from the bottom at 56th with a time of 1:16.03.

On winning the stage, Morales says in Filipino, "It's always nice to start the race on top." He had won this exact stage last year in the run-up to his successful title defense.

As for Benosa, the 37-year old veteran tried to make a run for a stage victory, but just fell short, although he was happy to finish in the podium. He had finished seventeenth overall last year, with his best finish in a stage being in fourth place.

Powered by Morales and Oranza's strong starts, Navy-Standard Insurance secured the overall team lead with 4:48:19. Go for Gold is in second with 4:48:33, with Army-Bicycology in third place at 4:50:17.

Ronda Pilipinas is now set to hit the road as Stage 2 starts at the Capitol and will head through Laoag before finishing at the Pagudpud Municipal Hall.

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

A whopping P1 million will be given to the individual champion and P150,000 to the team winner.