Rendole snares historic Le Tour first leg victory

TUGUEGARAO CITY—On a flat, sun-baked terrain relished by sprinters, climber Oscar Rendole stole the limelight and made history in the international cycling scene.

Rendole became the first Filipino lap winner in a Union Cycliste Internationale-sanctioned race after ruling yesterday’s kickoff stage of the Le Tour de Filipinas presented by Air21 that ended in this city known as the economic hub of the Cagayan Valley Region.

The 26-year-old rice farmer from Guimba, Nueva Ecija, peeled away from the lead pack in the final 500 meters and sprinted home alone, celebrating his second career Tour stage victory by raising both arms at the finish line.

“It’s nice to win a stage but the real race begins in the mountains,’’ said Rendole, the Mail & More skipper, in Filipino after topping the 155.75-kilometer run from Sta. Ana, Cagayan, in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 40 seconds.

Koos Jeroen Kers of the Netherlands arrived two seconds behind Rendole, towing German Timo Scholz of continental squad CCN, Rudy Roque of American Vinyl/LPGMA and New Zealand’s James Williamson, all of them with times of 3:44:42.

Rendole, who will don the yellow jersey in another flat 103.3-km ride today going to Cauayan City, Isabela, also earned the green jersey for accumulating the most points for the three sprint side events in the stage.

Speeding like a locomotive on the fringes of the Cagayan river, Rendole and Singapore’s Sea Keong Loh abandoned the lead pack of 23 riders shortly before the peloton picked up their lunch bags in Amulung town some 127 km into the race.

The duo’s attack fizzled out as a group of 10 riders reeled them in after building a lead of 58 seconds in Iguig, a baseball hotbed.

Rendole, unaffected by his cramping legs, then launched another assault with three kilometers to go and was chased by Kers, Scholz, Roque and Williamson.

He finally succeeded from bolting away  on the approach to the short uphill finish that duplicated his first career stage victory in the 2009 Padyak Pinoy.

Loh checked in sixth in the stage, six seconds back, while Go21’s Baler Ravina, Bradeley Hall of New Zealand, Uzbekistan’s Azamat Turaev and Indonesia’s Rastra Patria completed the top 10 stage finishers.

New Zealand’s Joseph Cooper of Pure Black Racing Team bombed out of the four-day race and four more foreign cyclists didn’t start, shrinking the starting field to 75 riders.

TPT Cycling Team, a continental squad from Iran, withdrew at the last minute due to injuries and has been replaced by Terengganu, another continental club based in Malaysia.

Stage 3 is another short 104-km race featuring a moderately hard King of the Mountain summit halfway through the lap.