Locals settle for crumbs in foreign-dominated Tour of Luzon

Foreigners dominated the field as Baler Ravina and the rest of the local bets settled for crumbs in the 2010 LPGMA Tour of Luzon that ended at the Ayala Triangle in Makati City. South African rider Dennis Von Nickerk of the EMG Cycling Team ruled the nine-day race, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the foreign invaders as Ravina emerged the best-performing Filipino at fourth spot.

And it did not help that Ravina suffered a spate of bad luck prior to the start of the race. "Siguro kung hindi ako minalas, malaki sana yung pag-asa ko. Kaso hindi pa nagsisimula yung karera, inabot na ako ng malas," said the 28-year-old native of Asingan, Pangasinan who’s now based in the town of Pozzorubio. The former Tour of Luzon and Padyak Pinoy King of the Mountain was referring to an accident prior to the bikefest, wherein he was hit by a motorcycle on his way to the Quezon City Velodrome and suffered cuts and bruises on his left thigh and leg. "Ininda ko rin yung sakit nun ng ilang araw before ako naka-recover sa kalagitnaan na ng karera," said Ravina whose highest finish in a lap was third place in the initial stage where he was outsprinted by EMG team captain James Perry and Von Nickerk for the lap honors in Macapagal Avenue. He also had the chance to inch in and make it to the top 3 during the seventh lap in Subic but for the second time around, he suffered a flat tire entering the last seven kilometers to the finish line. And so Ravina got left behind by Pinoy riders in the breakaway group, led by Irish Valenzuela of American Vinyl and Josel Calderon of Smart wound up 1-2 in in the said leg. "Siguro babawi na lang ako sa Padyak [Pinoy race]. Sana suwertihin na ako dun," said Ravina, who also led his Team Liquigaz to a runner-up finish in the team overall classification behind champion Kelly Benefits Strategies of US. After nine days of action, Von Nickerk accumulated a total of 20 hours, 41 minutes and 36.31 seconds to take home the title and the P50,000 purse, just 6.2 seconds ahead of second placer David Veilleux of Kelly Benefits, who netted the runner-up prize of P40,000 and an additional P10,000 for being the best young rider (under 23). "We just controlled the pace from start to finish and protected the lead,'' said the 25-year-old Von Nickerk after the last stage which was won by his teammate Reynard Butler. The victory was Von Nickerk’s first in a multi-stage race in his six-year career as a rider. Finishing third overall was EMG skipper Perry, the only rider to win a lap twice in the race. Perry had an aggregate time of 20 hours, 44 minutes and 56.39 seconds. Overall, Ravina was 3 minutes and 07.77 second behind Von Nickerk. He won P20,000 for this finish. Valenzuela came in fifth overall at 3 minutes and 33.61 seconds behind Von Nickerk and took the Sprint King honors after edging Liquigaz’s Sherwin Carrera, 30-29, in sprint points. Former tour champion Santy Barnachea of Liquigaz was sixth (4:20.25) followed by King of the Mountain winner Tomas Martinez of Smart-Rudy Project (5:28.71), Jay Tolentino of Batang Tagaytay (5:34.88), Joel Calderon of Smart (6:46.56) and Kelly Benefits skipper Reid Mumford (7:55.58). "Talagang malalakas sila (Nickerk, Veilleux and Perry) lalo na sa akyatan. Parang nakasakay sa motor sa ahon,'' said the 22-year-old Valenzuela. In the team overall classification, Kelly Benefits Strategies edged Liquigaz for the top honors while American Vinyl finish third followed by Smart and Geo State/The Beacon. - GMANews.TV