Felipe, Carino go 1-2 in Ronda Pilipinas Stage 2

FILIPINOS Marcelo Felipe of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 and Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance rider El Joshua Carino had a 1-2 finish in Stage 2 of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2019 that went around the whole of Guimaras on Saturday.

Felipe and Carino both ended up with an identical time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds but it was the former who emerged as the stage winner. Go for Gold’s Jonel Carcueva finished third.

Felipe revealed after the race that he has conspired with Carino to stick together in the last 10 kilometers of the 101.8-kilometer, round-the-island race and prevent the foreign riders from taking the stage win.

“Kanina ko pa tinitignan si Carino. Gusto siyang pakawalan ng team niya. Forty seconds lang ang labanan sa team. Pinilit ko siyang dikitin at nag-usap na lang na magtulungan, katulad ni Carcueva na inabot namin,” said Felipe.

Spanish rider Francisco Mancebo Perez, who won the Stage 1 in Iloilo City, has successfully protected the solo general classification lead from his closes pursuers Ronald Oranza and Jan Paul Morales of Navy-Standard Insurance.

The 42-year-old Perez, a Tour de France veteran, had an aggregate clocking of 7:47:298 after two race days. Oranza was at No. 2 in the general classification ranks (3:52 behind), Dominic Perez at No. 3 (4:01) and Morales at No. 4 with (4:45).

In the top 10 were Matrix’s Junya Sano (4:53), Korail Team Korea’s Joo Daeyeong (4:58), 7Eleven’s Irish Valenzuela (5:20), Army Bicycology’s Mark Julius Bordeos (5:20), and 7Eleven’s Rustom Lim (5:28)./PN