TAGAYTAY CITY – Unheralded Roel Quitoy of Mindanao came through with best performance in his young cycling career as he topped Stage 10 of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 that started and ended at the Tagaytay Convention Center here yesterday.
Quitoy, on his second year in this cycling race, showed impressive climbing skills as he stuck with overall leader Jan Paul Morales but took lap honors in three hours, 25 minutes and 29 seconds.
Morales, fresh from reigning supreme in the Stage 9 criterium in Sta. Rosa, Laguna the day before, came in second, 2.0 seconds behind with a clocking of 33:30:50 and could have claimed his fifth stage victory had he not decided to just let the 25-year-old Zamboanga City native have his day in the sun.
The 31-year-old red LBC jersey wearer said it was a reward for Quitoy for the hard work and fearlessness he showed during the race.
“He was the one who towed us when we made the move to catch up with the lead pack and he was also with me when we broke loose in the ascent in Sampaloc,” said Morales.
Quitoy, whose father Romeo competed in the fabled Tour back in the old days, was emotional when he received his first ever paycheck worth P20,000.
“I dream of having a good life through cycling and I hope this is a start for me,” said Quitoy, who gave up mountain biking for road racing after figuring in a major accident that saw him hurt his left knee and getting sidelined for three years.
Quitoy also attributed his success to his bike change.
After his cheap aluminum bike worth P12,000 broke down in the Angeles-Subic Stage 3 more than two weeks ago, Quitoy almost quit but changed his mind when his manager Paul Tan lent him his lighter carbon bike amounting to over P100,000.