Kick-off rites, fun ride fire off LBC Ronda Pilipinas today

MANILA, Philippines - The LBC Ronda Pilipinas, the biggest cycling event since the fabled Marlboro Tour, kicks off today in colorful rites featuring the 16 teams competing in the 12-stage, 16-day spectacle at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

The kick-off rites start at 6 a.m. with the registration of riders for the Fun Ride which will take racing aficionados to a fun competition in the vicinity of the QC Memorial Circle and the QC Hall at 8:30 a.m.

Javer Mantecon, senior vice president for marketing of the sponsoring LBC Express, Inc., will welcome the fun ride participants, spectators and members and officials of the 16 participating teams. Also on hand in the brief ceremonies are Christine Wuthrich of LBC Foundation (electric motorcycle and Go Green Philippines) and QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte who will also introduce Mayor Herbert Bautista for the keynote address.

The ceremonies come six days before the formal start of the 1,650km race which speeds off with the first stage in Cagayan de Oro on Sept. 24.

Sixteen teams, each composed of six riders, will clash for a record purse of P7 million in the biggest cycling spectacle since the last of the Marlboro Tour in 1998.

The tour will take the riders, composed of veterans and a new breed of cycling greats, to over 30 cities in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon, culminating in the race to the finish line at the Rizal Park on Oct. 8.

A variety of terrains, from flat roads to mountain climbs, will test the sprinting and mountain climbing abilities of the gritty bunch of riders, culled from rigid regional and provincial eliminations last summer, but the biggest test of strength and skills will be the 188km Baguio-to-Baguio race which takes the riders down Marcos Highway and two excruciating climbs to Pines City from Naguilian Road and Kennon Road in the 10th stage.

LBC Express Inc. president Fernando Araneta said all prizes will be tax free, with the individual champion to receive a whopping P1M and the team champion another P1M. The second to fourth placers in individual competition receive P500,000, P250,000, P125,000 and P100,000 while the second to fifth in team competition receive P500,000, P250,000, P100,000 and P90,000.