(From left to right) Jericho Jay Lucero, Jonel Carcueva and Ronald Lomotos

JONEL CARCUEVA was a monster on the Sampaloc climb to capture his a third straight Men Elite road race crown in the PhilCycling National Championships for Road 2024 on Friday.

Just like what he did in the last two years, Carcueva, riding out of Cebu City, made his dominant move in the climb back to Tagaytay City to clock 4 hours, 23 minutes and 23.40 seconds to win the gold medal in the premiere event of the championships presented by Standard Insurance and MVP Sports Foundation and organized by PhilCyling headed by Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, also president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Jericho Jay Lucero made it a 1-2 finish for continental team Go-for-Gold finishing a minute after his team captain in the 178.30-km race that started and finished at the Praying Hands along Isaac Tolentino Avenue.

Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance’s Ronald Lomotos was nine seconds behind Lucero for the bronze medal in the event also supported by Tagaytay City, Chooks-To-Go, Excellent Noodles, CCN and Fitbar and backed by the local government units in Batangas and Cavite and PNP commands in Batangas and Cavite and the Bureau of Fire.

The top finishers in the five-day, three-discipline national championships will be seeded to the national road team that will be harnessed for the Asian championships this year and the Southeast Asian Games that returns to its pre-pandemic schedule of December in 2025 in Thailand.

A total of 69 riders answered the gun for the Men Elite race that traversed Nasugbu, Lian, Balayan, Tuy, Calaca, Lemery, Agoncillo and Talisay in Batangas.