Ube Media's Rindole steals limelight from big guns

MANILA, Philippines – Ube Media team captain Oscar Rindole ruled Stage 3 of the Padyak Pinoy 2009 Tour of Champions in a race that ended in Tour de France style in Dagupan City. Rindole, a 26-year-old pride of Santa Fe, Guimba, Nueva Ecija, had some of the big guns —including overall individual leader Santy Barnachea of Team Air2100 - as company during most of the 153.3-km stage but managed to break away in the final five kilometers to cross the finish line by his lonesome in three hours, 30 minutes and 38 seconds. “Nasa kundisyon," said Rindole whose previous best finish was seventh in last month’s Tour of Luzon revival. The way he rode Sunday, the sixth of nine children of traditional farmers appeared bent on challenging for the P100,000 top individual prize as he climbed from fifth to second overall in the individual general classification, just two minutes off second-day overall leader Barnachea (aggregate time 11:49:07), the 2006 Padyak Pinoy winner. Rindole rode together with American Vinyl captain Lloyd Lucien Reynante and four others in a breakaway group in at the stage’s 94-km mark in San Clemente, Tarlac for almost 30 kms before Barnachea and his own group of four caught up 28 kms to the finish in Aguilar, Pangasinan. The Ube Media skipper made his move in the final five kilometers to the race solo towards the finish line that featured a Tour de France-like setup. More than three kilometers of the city’s major boulevards—Perez and AB Fernandez—was closed to traffic. Barriers were set up for the entire stretch, making the finish appear like the Tour de France’s every time “The Tour" makes city center stops in major European cities. Barnachea, Reynante, Stage 2 winner Irish Valenzuela (Columbia Sportswear), Joel Calderon (Smart Buddy), Frederick Feliciano (Cargohaus), Rene Esteban (U-Freight), Rener Clauna (Tanduay) and Reginald Calosa (Air2100) clocked identical times of 3:31.03 in the stage. Reynante and Esteban were at the tip of the group to figure in the podium. Barnachea was so focused at keeping the MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) Yellow Jersey that he stuck in front of the stage most of the way. “Naubos ako sa kakadikit sa breakaway," said Barnachea, who will be wearing yellow for the second straight day Monday — a 71-km team time trial stage from Dagupan City to San Fernando City, La Union. “Mahirap hawakan pero pipilitin kong depensahan." Baler Ravina, skipper of Burger King, again could not blend the kick that could put him up front. He finished 2:18 behind in the fourth group and although he kept third place overall, his deficit to the leader ballooned from 43 seconds Saturday to 2:37 Sunday. Reynante appeared as the biggest gainer. He jumped from just outside the top 10 to fourth (2:44 behind). Also benefiting from that breakaway was Feliciano who climbed three notches to fifth (2:44 behind). Rounding out the top 10 in the individual general classification were Calderon (2:55 behind), Tanduay’s Renato Sembrano (4:00), Mail and More’s Warren Davadilla (5:11), Ube Media’s Nicardo Guanzon (5:59) and American Vinyl’s Ronnel Hualda (6:42). From 16th, Valenzuela is now in 11th (7:32 behind) while Arnel Quirimit, the Columbia Sportswear captain, was the biggest loser, finishing the stage almost nine minutes after Rindole to drop from second to 12th (7:32 behind). Ube Media made grabbed the overall team lead with an aggregate time of 35:41:17.722—an 8:04.231 lead over erstwhile leader American Vinyl, 20:39.661 over Columbia Sportswear, 24:01.202 over Air2100 and 26:27.689 over Burger King. Completing the overall team standings after three stages were Tanduay (28:59.520 behind), Smart Buddy (31:17.003), Mail and More (35:14.980), Wow Magic Sing (38:09.518), Go21 (46:48.298), Gin Kapitan (47:17.011), U-Freight (1:03:43.251), Cargohaus (1:15:23.719), Solarlina (1:21:53.674) and Navray (1:37:41.511). –GMANews.TV