Cycling: Historic win for Rendole in Le Tour de Filipinas 1st leg

Oscar Rendole made cycling history Saturday by becoming the first Filipino to win a stage in an International Cycling Union (UCI, Union Cycliste International) race at the start of the Le Tour de Filipinas 2012 in Cagayan province. The 26-year-old Rendole, racing under Team Mail and More, outsprinted two Dutch-based riders in the opening stage of the annual racing event—a 155-kilometer distance from the municipality of Sta. Ana to Tuguegarao City. The Nueva-Ecija native, who has never won a local Tour, did not only beat the extreme summer heat but also the foreign field which is expected to dominate the four-stage international race. Rendole said the foreign teams were as prepared as they are for the summer heat making the opening stage a battle of guts and wits in the final kilometer. "Hindi na rin inalintana ng mga dayuhan ang init at sanay na sila. Nahirapan ako at nagka-cramps na sa last three kilometers pero buo ang loob ko na mapanalunan ang karerang ito," said Rendole, who completed stage one in in three hours, 44 minutes and 40 seconds. Dutch Global Cycling Team's Jeroen Kers was two-bike lengths behind Rendole (3:44:42), a strong finish obviously made possible by the fact that the team arrived in the port municpality of Sta. Ana three days before the race to acclimatize. Timo Scholtz of CCN Cycling Team, another Netherlands-based squad, came in third with an identical clocking as Kers to salvage a podium finish in the stage. Rendole has been one of those Nueva Ecija bets who are potential local Tour winners but has only won one stage in his entire cycling career—the 2009 Padyal Pinoy, Le Tour's predecessor. He will wear the yellow jersey on Sunday’s second stage—103.3 kilometers to Cauayan, Isabela—with the bragging rights as the first Filipino to have worn the coveted jersey in the foreign team-laced race. Merculio Ramos wore the yellow jersey in the Le Tour de Langkawi years ago. Rudy Roque, another local rising star, of LPGMA-American Vinyl missed the podium by finishing fourth with the same time as the second and third placers. James Williamson of New Zealand team Bikenz PureBlack was fifth also with 3:44:42. Baler Rabena, another noted climber, made Go21—Mail and More's sister company— proud by fishing seventh, behind another PureBlack rider, James Williamson (3:44:42) and OCBC Singapore's Loh Sea Keong. Rounding out the top 10 were foreigners Bradley Hall (3:45:01) of Plan B, Azamat Turaeb (3:45:01) of Uzbekistan Suren and Rastra Patria (3:45:03) of Colossi. "Dikit-dikit ang mga siklista kaya depensa lamang muna. Sa stage four talagang magkakaalaman kung sino ang mananalo," added Rendole, who emerged as the top local climber in last year's Le Tour. With the support of Rendole's teammates, Alfredo Asuncion and Joel Calderon, Mail And More topped the team classification after the first stage with a time 11:21:03. Dutch Global is not far behind with 11:21:05 while LPGMA/American Vinyl was third with 11:21:16. — JVP, GMA News