Ravina is ‘King of the Mountain’ but Calderon wins Padyak Pinoy

MANILA, Philippines – Burger King team captain Baler Ravina ruled the dreaded Baguio-to-Baguio stage in the last day of the Padyak Pinoy 2009 Tour of Champions Friday in Baguio City. But the day belonged to Smart Buddy skipper Joel Calderon who was crowned the overall champion of the eight-stage race from Taguig City to Baguio City. Ravina bested other known climbers and finished the 195-kilometer Stage 8 in five hours, 57 minutes and 48.79 seconds to win the King of the Mountain title. He crossed the finish line in Burnham Park 48 seconds ahead of closest pursuer Cargohaus team captain Frederick Feliciano. Placing third and fourth in the Baguio-to-Baguio stage are Lloyd Lucien Reynante, the skipper of team champion American Vinyl, and overall winner Calderon. Feliciano, Reynante and Calderon were given identical times of 5:58:37.55. Ravina won the P10,000 for winning the stage plus another P20,000 as King of the Mountain. Calderon, the Guimba, Nueva Ecija pride, went home with the P50,000 individual champion purse P50,000. “Masayang-masaya ako," said the Smart Buddy skipper Calderon, 29, a farmer and part time tricycle driver. American Vinyl, which wrested the overall lead in the penultimate stage from Vigan City Thursday, shared the day’s honors with Calderon and Ravina after winning the team event. American Vinyl capped its amazing run by having three riders finishing in the Top 10 with Reynante, Ronnel Hualda and Lloyd Bersame (the top three riders’ cumulative time accounts for the team time in a stage). American Vinyl’s total time of 92:04:35.353 earned them the P500,000 top team prize. They enjoyed a 33-minute edge over Ube Media and 53 minutes over Tanduay. Columbia Sportswear was one hour and eight minutes behind for fourth place while Smart Buddy placed fifth. Rounding out the overall team standings were Burger King (1:22:04.461 behind), Gin Kapitan (1:29:54.079), Wow Magic Sing (1:47:11.803), Air21 (1:51:35.233), U-Freight (1:58:25.752), Go21 (2:04:24.748), Cargohaus (2:12:03.617), Mail and More (2:22:19.085), Solarlina (3:07:28.868) and Navray (4:25:25.288). Colombia Sportswear’s Irish Valenzuela, 22, was given the Bert Lina Best Young Rider award. The Rookie of the Year award was put on hold for technical reasons. Tanduay’s Sherwin Carrera emerged as the Sprint King but the San Fabian, Pangasinan, rider faces cancellation of his UCI license from the PhilCycling for bad conduct. He allegedly threw an empty water canteen at the vehicle of Commissaire 2 Carlos Gredonia. Unlike the Pangasinenses who displayed disunity when Asingan’s Santy Barnachea held the MVP Yellow Jersey for five days, the Novo Ecijanos showed their desire to bring back the tour trophy to their province. “Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga kababayan ko lalo na kina [Oscar] Rindole, Feliciano at Bernard Luzon. Talagang tinulungan nila ako bago pa umahon," said Calderon, only the second champion from the Central Luzon province after 1988 titlist Armando Catalan. “Nag-sacrifice sila para makuha ko ito. Talagang hiningi ko ang tulong nila para maitaguyod muli ang mga taga Nueva Ecija." – GMANews.TV