Navy’s Oranza grabs yellow jersey with Stage 2 win

Ronald Oranza of Navy-Standard Insurance raises his P1 million check for topping the Ronda Pilipinas 2018 presented by LBC during the awarding ceremony at The Tent in Filinvest, Alabang Sunday night. Looking at left was runner-up Jan Paul Morales (right) and second runner-up Junrey Navarra, both from Navy.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Riding on smooth roads he knows fairly well, Ronald Oranza outkicked several others in a mad dash to the finish Monday to rule the second stage of the 9th Le Tour de Filipinas.

The yellow jersey of leadership also had a little bit of history with it.

The 26-year-old stalwart of Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance was in a 15-man breakaway group going into the last three kilometers and had just enough in his tank in the stretch to win the 157.9-kilometer grind from Cabanatuan to here via Dalton Pass in three hours, 48 minutes and 34 seconds.

He will now take a three-second lead over a big bunch into Tuesday’s third stage, a 185.2-km trek from Bambang town in this province to Lingayen in Pangasinan, the longest lap this year.

“I just tried to sprint in those last three kilometers to get away from the chase group,” said Oranza, who joined Oscar Rendole and Arnel Quirimit (2012) and Mark Galedo (2014) as the only Filipinos to win laps in this Tour.

Navy-Standard teammates Jan Paul Morales, Junrey Navarra, and El Joshua Cariño are all in the top seven, as well as Cris Joven of Bike Extreme Philippines, as they form the chase group littered with foreigners.