RP riders move up to 4th in Tour d’ Indonesia

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 11/02/2010

MANILA, Philippines -- The 7-Eleven Road Bike Philippines riders continued their rise in the standings of the Speedy Tour d’ Indonesia with another strong showing over the weekend in the 7th stage of the cycling marathon, a 164.8-kilometer drive from Madison to the seaport city of Surabaya.

Mired as low as 17th place at the start of the 9-leg bikefest, the Filipino cyclists are now in 4th overall thanks to the spirited surge of Baler Ravina, Sherwin Carrera and Joel Calderon, who placed 18th (3:42.19), 20th (3:43.37), and 22nd (3:43.40) in the stage.

The stage was won by Indonesian Rosa Patria Dinawan (3:42.13).

Mark John Galedo and Tots Oledan, who placed 4th in the 179.4-km. stage 6 from Jogjakarta to Madison last Saturday, were in the 58-man main bunch that were tied from 24th to 82nd places with similar times of 3:44.04.

Carrera also captured the first intermediate sprint at the 67.2-km mark at the Legend Water Park Kertosono. Teammate Galedo snared the second intermediate sprint after 104.4 kilometers at Alun Alun Mojoagung.

A native of Asingan, Pangasinan, the 28-year-old Ravina also entered the Top 10 in the overall individual standings. From the 19th place, he vaulted to the 8th spot with an aggregate time of 17:40.29, a minute and 24 seconds behind Indonesian front runner Herwin Jaya.

Oledan, who was no. 18 entering Sunday’s race, slipped to 21st but was the next best RP biker with total time of 17:42.05. Carrera, meanwhile, clocked at 17:45.32.

Even more significant, the 7-11 RP cyclists were now no. 4 in the overall team standings with a cumulative time of 52:32.40, still 5 minutes and 10 seconds off leading Indonesian squad Polygon Sweet Nice (52.27.30).

But the Pinoy bets were within striking distance and just 19 seconds behind of third running CN Colossi (52:32.21) with two legs remaining in the event.

The penultimate stage was a flat 111.6-km. trek from Surabaya to Jember while the last stage was a 192.1-km. downhill drive from Gilimanuk to Denpasar in the island resort of Bali.