Local bets shine, Galedo tops Le Tour Stage 2

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – After a long drought in the tournament, local stars played their cards right.

Mark Galedo cruised in the homestretch to capture the second stage of the 2014 Le Tour de Filipinas in four hours, 14 minutes, and 34 seconds, Tuesday, April 22, in front of hundreds of spectators in Plaza Lucero.

The 28-year-old rider of 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines zoomed to a solo finish after managing to peel away from the lead pack in the last eight kilometers of the race.

He entered the Overall Classification’s top three, just 3:33 minutes behind the leader Choon Huat Goh of OCBC Singapore Continental Cycling Team.

But before he could cross the finish line with his fists clenched up in the air, Galedo had to survive more than 25 kilometers without water and support.

Galedo and his teammate Chris Joven – who eventually finished at third less than a minute behind – were left without their support vehicle which was stuck behind the main peloton after the TPLex sector of the 175.5-kilometer stage.

Park Sungbaek copped second as he clocked in 4:15:21, outsprinting everybody in the chase group including Joven who also made it to the podium in a thrilling photofinish.

‘It was all strategy’

Joven, who trailed Park in all three sprint sections of the stage, was instrumental in Galedo’s lap win.

He provided good cover to contain the chase group, allowing 7-Eleven to post a 1-3 finish and claim today’s Stage Team classification leadership over runners-up OCBC Singapore and Korea’s KSPO Cycling Team.

“We really had it in our plan. I had to block the rest of the pack to give my teammate a good distance ahead of us,” the Camarines Sur native told Rappler in Filipino after the race.

The locals fared well under the scorching weather as they stayed in the lead pack right from kilometer 20, traversing the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway without a hitch to gain momentum before they take on Nueva Ecija’s roads.

With several riders struggling along the highway with flat tires and minor mishaps, Joven, Galedo, and 2012 Le Tour de Filipinas winner Baler Ravina dictated pace.

The locals used their familiarity of both the weather and the route to put the 15-man lead pack more than two minutes ahead of the chase group as they entered the newly-opened Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway.

Park, however, put up a gallant stand as he won all three sprint sections of the day to secure the green jersey coming into Stage 3 on Wednesday.

Despite going way ahead of their service vehicle to hit the provincial roads without water, the Filipinos launched their attack just outside Cabanatuan City.

They springboarded Galedo to a solo lead and let him take the stage almost a minute ahead of the chase pack.

Ravina, hometown bet Felipe Marcelo and Philippine Navy Standard Insurance’s Lloyd Reynante made it to the top 20, placing 14th, 15th, and 18th respectively in what could be the best stage the Filipino bets have seen in two Le Tour seasons.

With Soonyeong Kwon out for the rest of the race, Satalyst Giant Racing Team’s Brendon Meney takes the young leader’s white jersey.

Le Tour debutant Mirza Alhammadi of the United Arab Emriates National Team retains the King of the Mountain Polkadot Jersey.

Comprising the Overall Classification top five are OCBC’s Goh (8:21:53) and Eric Timothy Sheppard (8:24:56) – who topped the opening stage from Clark to Olongapo on Monday – Galedo (8:25:26), Nazar Jumabekov (8:25:51) of Polygon Sweet Nice and Dadi Suyadi (8:26:05) from Pegasus Continental Team.

Tomorrow’s third stage will send the racers through the tough 146.6 kilometers of uphill climb from the plains of Cabanatuan City to Nueva Vizcaya’s capital, Bayombong. – Rappler.com