Japanese pro rules Saipan legs of Jazy Cup

Professional cycling champion Ogasawara Takahiro of Japan lived up to expectations, as he easily dominated the Saipan stages of the 8th Annual Jazy Cup Tour De Marianas held over the weekend.

The 28-year-old Japanese, who had been to the world championships twice, won the individual time trial (Stage1) Saturday after finishing the 7.5-km race from from Marianas County Club to Suicide Cliff in 16 minutes and 44 seconds.

Then yesterday, he topped the 67-km road race around Saipan after completing the event eight minutes off his closest pursuers and submitting a time of two hours, one minute and 59.01 seconds en route to ruling the expert division.

His accumulated time in the two-day event was 2:16:59, which was roughly 12 minutes faster than overall second placer Bobby Mandapat of Guam, who had a total of 2:28:45.

Mandapat was also second in the ITT with a time of 19:06 and third in the road race, checking in at 2:09:45.52.

Rennan “Butch” Sublemente was third overall with his two-day total of 2:29:46 after coming in fifth in ITT (20:17) and fourth in road race (2:09:50.51).

“I am very happy. It was windy but it was okay,” Takahiro said of his twin wins.

Takahiro, who won the 2008 XTERRA Japan, is on Saipan for his regular training because he could not do it back home due to the cold weather and “the ice on the roads.”

He will be competing in the upcoming Saipan XTERRA in April, as well as in the Tagaman Triathlon.

Takahiro’s best finish in the world championship was 55th. He did not finish last year in Italy due to a broken bike.

He vowed to come back next year for the Tour De Marianas and defend his title in the Guam-based event held for the second time on Saipan through the efforts of the Jazy Garcia Sports Foundation.

Jazy Garcia, whose father Jesus Garcia Jr. was a three-time Tour of the Philippines champion, also competed in the expert division and placed fourth overall and first in the master’s division with a time of 2:29.50, sixth in the ITT (20:28), and second in the road race (2:09:45.07).

Kieran Daly was seventh in ITT (20:32) and fifth in road race (2:11:02.67) to finish fifth place overall and second in the masters.

Completing the Top 10 among 22 competitors in the expert class were Federico Fernandez (2:34:13), Florian Braig (2:36:23), Renato Calage (2:37:23), Cesar Fortaleza (2:37:23), and Lewie Tenorio (2:37:28).

In the women’s division, Melanie Daly beat Jazy’s wife, Mylene Garcia, after the latter lost her track.

Daly clocked in at 3:27:12 while Mylene timed in at 3:28:11.

Mylene arrived at the finish line early, but was told she needed to take a round trip of the course from the American Memorial Park down to the road to Kagman via the Capital Hill and at the Radar Station in Tanapag.

For Takahiro, unfamiliarity with the course was not a problem, as he needed only the right strategy to do it.

The Japanese champion went along with the riders who knew the course much and after the first round, he suddenly broke away from the rest of the pack at the Radar Station.

Philip Pedernal won the novice division, as he submitted a time of 2:07:10 afer coming in second in the ITT (23:46) and third in the road race (1:44:10:24). Fred Camacho was second in 2:10:13, finishing first in ITT (23:45) and fourth in the 33.5-km road race (1:48:13:89). Shogo Ando was third overall with 2:12:14, coming in fourth in the ITT (24:10) and fifth in the road race (1:48:14.64).

Alberto Cataina Jr. won the mountain bike race with his total time of 2:00:58 after submitting the lowest time of 22:50 in the ITT and crossing the finish line in the road race first in 1:38:58.97.

Gary Bandoja was second overall (2:01:19), finishing first in ITT (22:10) and second in road race (1:39:19.49), while Jose Ngiraibuuch came in third (2:07:10), after placing third both in ITT (23:14) and road race (1:44:10.50).

To spice up the successful event, a sport class was added in the competition with Rotary Club of Saipan president Ben Babauta winning with a time of 2:00:33. He topped the ITT with 37:46, but was only seventh in the road race with 2:04:52.

After the Saipan stages, Guam will host the last two on March 14 and 15.

The event is being supported by Take Care. Sponsors on Saipan include Tan Holdings, Hard Rock Café, DFS Galleria, Saipan Grand Hotel, LBT Appraisal, Foamacon Liner, Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan, Saipan Shipping, BankPacific, Coco Restaurant, Pacific Islands Club, Pacific Traders Insurance, and Auto Glass Pro.