Oranza pulls away after dominant time trial stint

SAN JOSE, Tarlac—Ronald Oranza of Navy-Standard Insurance topped the 31.5-kilometer Individual Time Trial Saturday to continue to pull away from the pack in the Ronda Pilipinas 2018 presented by LBC.

Hitting the road last, the 26-year-old Oranza was so dominating, he even overtook Jay Lampawog of Go for Gold Developmental team and Navy teammate Ronald Lomotos and nearly caught up with defending champion Jan Paul Morales also of Navy near the finish line to post an impressive time of 44.44 minutes.

Morales registered the second fastest time with 46:31, or about two minutes off Oranza. Roque, last year’s runner-up, checked in at third with 48.26.

It was Oranza’s third stage victory after he also reigned supreme in the criterium in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, last week and the Vigan-Pagudpud stage two the next day.

Oranza thus hiked his lead from 5.08 minutes the day before to 6.55 going into the last five stages of this race presented by LBC and supported by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, CCN and Petron, among others.