by Nick Giongco
TAGAYTAY CITY – All eyes will be on defending champion El Joshua Cariño of the Philippine team when the 10th edition of the Le Tour de Filipinas gets rolling today with the 129.5-kilometer stage that will see 75 riders from five local and 10 foreign teams traversing a route made more challenging with climbs that will immediately put to them to the test.
Cariño, 26, aiming to become the first back-to-back titleholder of the country’s premier road race, admits the pressure is starting to mount and that crucial in his bid to pull off such a feat will be making sure he places well in the first two laps.
“After the first and second stage, dapat maganda na ang pwesto,” said Cariño, whose family has a storied history in Pangasinan cycling.
Cariño’s relatives, Samson and Ruben Cariño of Mangaldan town, were champions of yesteryears while a younger brother Daniel Ven, is also a fast-rising rider.
Riding under the Philippine national team, Cariño also has teammates a solid cast made up of John Mark Camingao, Jan Paul Morales, Ronald Oranza and Junrey Navarra.
Le Tour 2019 chairman Donna Lina is dangling R1.8-million in cash prizes of the event that is sanctioned by the UCI.
Also contending for honors are four other local teams – Celeste Cycles, Go for Gold, 7-11 Air21 and Bike Extreme – and an international force composed of China, Japan, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
Cariño is aware of the threats to his crown and sees it is as more of a challenge.
“Excited sa karera…panibagong challenge (I’m excited to race…new challenge),” he added, noting that he is in tip-top shape knowing that favorable results in the first two legs are crucial in ruling the five-stage road spectacle.
After the kickoff stage here, the competition moves further down south to Pagbilao in Quezon, for the 194.9-km ride to Daet in Camarines Norte on Saturday for Stage 2. The third will be another long one – 183.7 km – from Daet to Legaspi in Albay while fourth (176 kms) and fifth (145.8 kms) will all be in Legaspi via different routes.
