MANILA, Philippines – Mabibigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga Pinoy riders na makakuha ng puntos para sa tsansang makalaro sa 2020 Tokyo Olympics sa pamamagitan ng PRUride PH 2019 road race na pakakawalan sa Mayo 24-26 sa Subic.
Ang three-day event ay ang unang professional race na gagawin ng British life insurer na Pru Life UK at isang UCI 2.2 accredited stage race.
Ilang international teams ang inaasahang lalahok para bigyan ng magandang laban ang mga local squads, ayon kay Pru Life UK Senior Vice President at Chief Customer Marketing Officer Allan Tumbaga.
Kabilang sa mga ito ay ang continental teams mula sa Hong Kong Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Sweden South Africa, Brunei, Korea, Vietnam at Uzbekistan.
“We expect something like 13-14 international teams to compete. So we’re quite excited about it,” wika kahapon ni Tumbaga sa Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum sa Amelie Hotel Manila.
“We’ll be exposed internationally. We are very confident that we are pushing ourselves to the limit, not only for the sake of staging it, but for our athletes so they can participate and compete, for them to have a better feel of how to compete internationally, and of course, to gain points,” dagdag pa nito.
Handa naman ang mga top local teams kagaya ng Go For Gold at 711.
“The goal I think early on is mas masaya kung maraming UCI events dito sa Pilipinas,” ani Go For Gold team manager Jeremy Go sa forum na inihandog ng San Miguel Corp., Tapa King at PAGCOR.
Bumisita din sina Go For Gold riders Ismael Grospe, Ronnel at Edz Hualda, Marcelo Felipe ng 7-11 at Ronald Oranza ng Philippine Navy.