THE PHILIPPINE Navy Standard cycling team continued its dominance in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 as Ronal Oranza ruled stage 1 of the Visayas leg in Bago City, Negros Occidental yesterday.
Oranza clocked one hour, nine minutes and 23 seconds to top the leg while teammate Rudy Roque (1:09:24) made it a one-two finish for Philippine Navy in the 2.7-kilometer stage.
Both riders pulled away from the peloton at the start of the three-lap criterium race, beating the group that included LBC riders Ronald Lomotos and Rustom Lim.
The four-man breakaway group led the action for the first 40 minutes until Navy riders Joel Calderon and Daniel Ven Carino and Team ASG newcomer Richard
Nebres joined the pack. The 22-year-old Nebres of Davao Oriental took the lead in the final two laps, but he suffered a spill in final 500 meters.
Oranza of Pangasinan topped the intermediate sprint laps in the 4th and 8th loops and earned 10 points in the sprint honors. He also tallied 15 points to lead the individual General Classification (GC).
Stage 2 will be in Iloilo City on Sunday.