MANILA, Philippines - Arnel Quirimit, whose sterling career spans two generations, from the glory days of the Marlboro Tour to pocket races of the last decade, takes one last crack at glory against the new breed of cyclists in the P7 million 2011 LBC Ronda Pilipinas which gets underway Sept. 24 in Cagayan de Oro.
Quirimit, one of the top riders in the last five years of the now-defunct Marlboro Tour, wheeled back to prominence in 2003 when he ruled the 17-leg Tour Pilipinas, the longest cycling event since the last of the Marlboro Tour in 1998.
His conquest came at a time when aging Marlboro Tour veterans Bernie Llentada, Carlo Guieb, Victor Espiritu, Placido Valdez, Warren Davadilla and Renato Dolosa one by one receded into the background and rode into the sunset.
Quirimit, who also ruled the two-stage Tour of the Hundred Islands a year earlier and competed in the Tour de Langkawi of Malaysia from 1998 to 2003, is back on the saddle for the LBC Ronda Pilipinas, considered the biggest racing spectacle after the fabled Marlboro Tour.
In its maiden year, the LBC Ronda Pilipinas, sponsored by LBC Express, Inc., the country’s leading courier firm, aims to duplicate if not surpass the Marlboro Tour in terms of participation (96 riders, 16 teams), prizes (P7 million, all tax free with P1 million each to the individual and team champion), coverage (1,650km, 12-stage tour of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) and challenges (bad weather, long routes and the mountain climbs of the dreaded Baguio-to-Baguio stage).
The Pozzurubio, Pangasinan native, who turns 35 three weeks before the start of the race, will serve as team captain of the once high-profile Central and West Pangasinan which includes new campaigners in Renato Sembrano, Julius Mark Bonzo, Reynaldo Navarro, Rene Clauna and Rene Esteban.
Tarlac, which has produced some of the tough, gritty riders in what has been called the annual summer spectacle, will now parade fresher, sturdier legs in skipper Elmo Ramos who will be supported by Sherwin Diamsay, Tomas Martinez, Anthony Miranda, Daniel Asto and Francisco Ramos.
Bonzo and Ramos are also eligible to compete in the under-23 category which offers P50,000 to the winner, P30,000 to the runner-up and P20,000 to the second runner-up.
The two teams will be joined by 11 other regional and provincial teams – East Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Sur, NCR, Southern Tagalog, Bicolandia, Davao, North and Central Mindanao, Cebu and Negros.
American Vinyl and 7-11 are joining as commercial teams while the Philcycling Association will be represented by under-23 riders.