Foreign bets out to blank RP riders of stage honors

For the third straight day, a foreign rider showed the way in Le Tour de Filipinas 2010 which ended at the Boardwalk inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Olongapo City. James Ball of South Africa’s Team DCM gathered enough strength in the final 200 meters to outsprint Filipino Tots Oledan and Shimano team captain Shinri Suzuki to pocket the P84,350 prize money for the lap prize winner. Ball finished the 146-kilometer stage from Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City to the former US military base in 3 hours, 14 minutes and 11 seconds, the same time given to the next nine riders who made it to the Top 10 which include Oledan’s teammate Ronnel Hualda, who finished eighth. "We really wanted the victory that’s why we tried to catch the lead group," said Ball who was impressed by the Filipino riders’ performance in the race after their long trail in Porac, Pampanga. "They’re very good (Filipino riders) and I’m really impressed with their skills. They’re very aggressive and enthusiastic." But not even the Filipinos’ skills, aggressiveness and enthusiasm were enough to foil Ball’s bid of sneaking his way to the lead and a Lap Three victory. Ball and company, though, needed one final push down the stretch. Trailing a seven-man breakaway group – composed of Tanduay team captain Warren Davadilla, Team Pilipinas rider Mark Julius Bonzo, Smart’s Lito Atilano, Wow Videoke’s Jaybop Pagnanawon, Extra Joss’ Lord del Rosario, Shimano’s Yusuke Tanaka of Shimano and his DCM teammate Clinton Barrow – Ball got a little help from his colleagues to catch up on the leaders entering the last five kilometers to the finish line. The main peloton joined Davadilla’s group and Ball outsprinted his closest pursuers in the last 200m of the lap. “Nagpursigi yung team ng DCM na makahabol. Sumabay na lang kami (DCM desperately tried to catch up so we just rode with them," said the 21-year old Oledan, the best Filipino finisher in the stage. “Sa sprint na lang kami nagkatalo, kinapos lang ako kasi last 400 meters pa lang tumira na ako, nasa isip ko na lang makapasok ako sa Top 3 (They beaten us in the sprint, I ran out of gas since I made my move in the last 400 meters. I just thought that I hope I could make the Top 3)." After the mass finish, McCann, the overall individual leader after two stages and two-day team classification leader American Vinyl maintained their lead. “I’ll just watch the guys close to me and I’m lucky that there’s not so many guys to watch. I’m in a good position to win, hopefully I can hold on," said McCann. After three stages, David McCann of Ireland compiled a total time 8:05:12, 2:39 ahead of second running and best placed Filipino ride rLloyd Lucien Reynante of Seven Eleven-Roadbike Philippines. Two minutes and 41 seconds behind McCann is Team Pilipinas-Batang Tagaytay skipper Baler Ravina. Completing the Top 10 of the overall individual classification are American Vinyl’s Irish Valenzuela (4:27 behind) and teammate Cris Joven (5:22 behind), Smart’s Joel Calderon (5:24) and compatriot Oscar Rindole (5:41 behind), DCM’s Jaques Janse Van Rensburg (6:38 behind), CCN’s Sacha Damrow (7:03) and Team Air 21’s Arnel Quirimit (7:07 behind). In the overall team classification, American Vinyl widened its lead against Smart to 2:30 while maintaining an 8:16 advantage over third-running Seven Eleven-RBP. Smart finished 12th in the team classification’s third stage. – GMANews.TV