Standard Insurance rules team time trial at Tour of Luzon

VIGAN City, Ilocos Sur — Standard Insurance Philippines (SIP) has set a standard at the Tour of Luzon when it dominated the Paoay to Vigan team time trial on Friday.

SIP registered the fastest time of one hour, 22 minutes and 31 seconds to top the 68.5-kilometer second stage with the age-old Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte serving as the backdrop of the starting point and the Ilocos Sur Capitol building at the finish line.

When the Ronald Oranza-led SIP team crossed the finish line at 11:18 a.m., they were informed that they ranked second in the team time trial but after confirmation from race officials, they actually finished first.SIP also topped the team classification race in the 195.2-kilometer first stage of the race on Thursday."

When we arrived at the tent we were told that we finished second only, so we didn't expect to win and we're already satisfied with it but we were surprised that we're actually the champs," said Oranza.

"We really prepared for this since this is a battle of endurance, this eight-day tour," added Oranza, who finished second in the individual classification of the Paoay-Paoay first stage.

The other members of the SIP team are Junrey Navarra, Jan Paul Morales, George Oconer, Ronald Lomotos, Jeremy Lizardo, and Dave Cangayao.

Go for Gold Philippines, composed of Jerico Lucero, Aidan James Mendoza, March Lago, Jaypee Olarte, Roonilan Quita, Joshua Gatmaitan, and James Paul Escumbien, placed second with a time of 1:24:39.

7Eleven Roadbike Philippines, meanwhile, was declared the No. 1 team earlier but after confirmation of the official time, the team of Rench Bondoc, Patrick Pagtalunan, Rex Krog, Daniel Corpuz, King Mercado, Gilbert Valdez and Ruzel Agapito dropped to third place with a time of 1:24:39.

Fourth placer MPT Drive Hub actually logged the second fastest time of 1:24:18 but it was penalized for "feeding in a non-feeding zone" and failed to make a podium finish in the second leg.

The Tour of Luzon's third leg will be on Saturday, featuring the Vigan to San Juan, La Union route which covers a race distance of 130 kilometers.

The individual general classification champion will pocket P500,000 while the team champion will win P1 million.