Wide open race seen in Ronda Pilipinas national finals

STA. ROSA, Laguna--Will an old face resurface as champion of the Ronda Pilipinas 2015 presented by LBC? Or will a new name emerge from the shadows of the big guns to steal the show?

Former champions Reimon Lapaza of Cycleline-Butuan, Mark Galedo of 7-Eleven, Santy Barnachea of Navy-Standard Insurance and Irish Valenzuela of Army will be marked men when the Ronda's Championship round hit the road on Sunday with a 60-kilometer criterium at the Paseo Greenfield City here.

Visayas qualifying leg champion Boots Ryan Cayubit of 7-Eleven and Luzon winner Ronald Oranza of 7-Eleven are also expected to shake things up by launching their ambitious bids and challenging the old guards.

"It's anybody's race," said the 29-year-old Galedo, a Southeast Asian Games gold medal winner who made it straight to the main event being a member of the national team that competed in the Asian Cycling Championship last week in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, in Filipino.  7-Eleven team manager Bong Sual, who boasts of the power duo of Galedo and Cayubit, said his team is out to win it all.

"We are the only Continental team here, they have been together for a couple of years," said Sual, whose other team members are Baler Ravina, Marcelo Felipe and teenage sensation Jay Lampawog.

"There is no goal but to dominate this Ronda Nationals," he added.

Like 7-Eleven, Navy-Standard Insurance is parading a star-studded team of Oranza, Barnachea, former Tour champion Joel Calderon, Lloyd Lucien Reynante, ACC silver medallist Jan Paul Morales, and mountain climbing specialist El Joshua Carino.

"It will be unpredictable this year but if we can produce a champion in our team, why not," said the 38-year-old Barnachea.

Cycline-Butuan team manager Lito Patayan, for his part, said it will be tougher this year for Lapaza after losing Vicmar Vicente to a road accident last year.

"We will do our best to keep the title of Reimon Lapaza this year but it will be tougher because we lost a friend and a rider," said Patayan referring to Vicente. "We visited his grave before we went here because we're dedicating this race to him."

After the morning criterium, a 120.5-km Stage Two follows as it will unfurl in Calamba, Laguna and finish at the top of the Quezon National Park or Tatlong Eme (Three Ms) in Atimonan, Quezon in the afternoon.

The race resumes Monday with a 171.1-km Stage Three, considered as the longest and one of the toughest in the finale considering it will unfold in Lucena, Quezon and rolls  through the mountain pass leading Rizal, considered as the backdoor to Antipolo and eventually to Manila.

On Feb. 24, participants will negotiate the 159-km Stage Four as they will be flagged off from Malolos, Bulacan and finish in front of the Tarlac Provincial Capitol.

The next two days, it will be the 151.8-km Stage Five from Tarlac to Dagupan, Pangasinan, considered the epicenter of the country's cycling universe where champions are born, and the 152.5-km Stage Six sending cyclists from Dagupan to Harrison Ave. in mountaintop Baguio City.

Capping the race are an 8.8-km Stage Seven individual time trial that ends on the peak of Sto. Tomas mountain, considered as the highest point in Baguio and the 90-km Stage Eight criterium that will go around the cool, breezy city before ending at Harrison Ave.

A total of 99 cyclists advanced from the Luzon and Visayas qualifiers including Lapaza, Galedo and his national team and a composite European squad, which arrived yesterday, vying for the top purse worth P1 million.

The race is presented by LBC and supported by major sponsors the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Mitsubishi and minor sponors Cannondale, Standard Insurance, Tech1 Corp., Maynilad, NLEX and NLEX Cycling and sanctioned by PhilCycling under Cavite Congressman Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino with TV5 and Sports Radio as media partners.

For updates, check Ronda Pilipinas’ official Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/RondaPilipinas, and Twitter account, @rondapilipinas.