INQUIRER Sports

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur - American Vinyl teammates Lloyd Berjame and Ronnel Hualda made a pact at the Laoag City rotunda and kept it till they rolled in a triumphant 1-2 finish Wednesday on the historic cobbled-stoned roads of this colonial city.

Only 10 seconds separated the two as they dominated Stage 6 of the 2009 Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions with the winner coming in after three hours 44 minutes and 55.6 seconds.

The leaders, like yellow jersey wearer Santy Barnachea, largely used the stage guarding each other in anticipation of today’s start of the dreaded mountain stages.

``I saw that my teammate (Berjame) still has the strength to make it so I supported him,’’ said Hualda in Filipino, sporting fresh bruises on his right cheekbone and jaw from a spill in Narvacan the previous stage.

He admitted that he allowed the 21-year-old Berjame to take the Stage and become the youngest leg winner in the race so far.

A former mountain biker who switched to racer just last year, Berjame bared that he, Hualda and the rest of American Vinyl team has been training together for more than a year already.

He and Hualda were in the six-man lead pack which broke away in the sun-baked Ilocos Norte capital, halfway point of the out-and-back stage.

In the final three kilometers, by the scenic seaside road of Bantay, Berjame made a clean get-away as Hualda fended off the chasers that included third placer Ericson Obosa of U-Freight.

Hualda and Obosa shared the time with Jemico Bioso (Burger King), Ryan Cantor (Wow Magic Sing) and Hilson Mangahis (Gin Kapitan) – all of them well outside the top six.

``The leaders were so pre-occupied protecting their time advantage because they know tomorrow will be a make-or-break stage,’’ said chief commissaire Renato del Mundo.

``The tour virtually starts from scratch tomorrow,” said del Mundo, a UCI continental commissaire who is assisted on the commissaire panel by Fernando Balang, Jun Lomibao, Carlos Gredonia and Juancho Ramores.

``Matindi dumikit eh, parang mga linta. Pero lahat din kami laspag na at groggy, kaya pantay pantay na lang (They guarded real good, just like leech. But all of us are tired and groggy that’s why it’s going to be a level playing field),’’ said Barnachea, who made sure he came in with the big group one minute, 11 seconds after the stage winner.

Though the top six – and the time they have between each other -- remained the same, Barnachea (Air2100) was particularly wary of fourth-running Baler Ravina (Burger King) and second placer Frederick Feliciano (Cargohaus).

Ravina was King of the Mountain in the similar bikathon held weeks ago and only trails the 2002 and 2006 Tour champ by 2:17. Feliciano, national team rider in mountain bike, is also breathing to his neck just 1:33 behind.

Barnachea wound up second three times already in the Baguio stages, once against Baler in the 2006 Tour.

Today’s penultimate stage will culminate in a 1,400-meter climb to Benguet (just three kilometers north of Baguio City) via the narrow and winding Naguilian Highway.

``Kabisado ko yung paakyat pero yung palusong hindi (I’m familiar with the climb, but not in the downhill),’’ said Barnachea of the steep descent to the finish line in front of the La Trinidad town hall.

Third-running Oscar Rindole (2:00 behind) confided that those who have the bigger oxygen tank will take today’s stage, a precursor of the centerpiece Baguio-to-Baguio ``Otso-otso’’ Stage 8.

American Vinyl skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante (2:44 behind), Smart Buddy’s Joel Calderon (2:55), Tanduay’s Renato Sembrano (3:19), Mail & More and two-time champ Warren Davadilla (4:29), Hualda (5:26) and Ube Media’s Nicardo Guanzon (5:39) rounded out the top 10 in the general classification.