GEORGE Oconer seized the overall lead as the Navy riders dominated Thursday’s Stage Five of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race.
Six riders from Standard Insurance-Navy led an early break and held on, with John Mark Camingao finishing first in the 122.6-kilometer stage from Lucena City to Antipolo.
Behind him was 2018 Ronda king Ronald Oranza and mountain specialist Junrey Navarra.
El Joshua Carino, Ronald Lomotos and George Oconer were also in that group that clocked three hours, 12 minutes and 50 seconds as the race presented by LBC and supported by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation reached its halfway mark.
The Navy riders pulled away at the eight-kilometer mark in Lucban, Quezon. Jan Paul Morales, Ronda winner in 2016 and 2017, was also part of that lead pack but slipped back to the peloton.
Oconer moved from second to first in the general individual classification with an aggregate time of 17:54:13.
Stage Six on Friday is a 111.9-km race from Antipolo to Tarlac Recreational Park in San Jose.
“It’s still too early to tell but we will do our best to protect the lead,” said the 28-year-old Oconer.
Oranza is second at 17:55:28, followed by Lomotos at 17:55:31, Camingao at 17:56:06, Navarra at 17:56:30 and Carino at 17:58:04.
Mark Julius Bordeos of Bicycology-Army slipped from the top to seventh at 17:59:27.
Rustom Lim of 7Eleven Cliqq-Ari21 by Roadbike Philippines’ is running eighth at 17:59:33, followed by Go for Gold riders Jonel Carcueva (17:59:41) and Ismael Grospe Jr. (18:00:01).
The Navy riders extended their lead in the team classification with a total clocking of 71:36:57. Running second, 23 minutes and 40 second behind, is Go for Gold (72:00:37), while Bicycology-Army stayed in third at 72:02:16. 7Eleven slid from second to fourth at 71:05:52.
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