Navy hopes to duplicate its dominating performance in last year’s edition even minus key riders Ronald Oranza, El Joshua Carino and John Mark Camingao when the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 edition unfurls on Feb. 4 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur and ends on March 4 in Iloilo City.
Navy team captain Lloyd Lucien Reynante said Oranza, Carino and Camingao were all forced to skip the annual 14-stage event, considered the biggest cycling race in the country today, to undergo training.
“They can’t race because they’re under basic seaman course, they’re required to do it,” said the 36-year-old Reynante in Filipino referring to Oranza, Carino and Camingao.
Oranza, Carino and Camingao were part of the Navy squad that topped all legs of last year’s three-leg edition.
A top purse worth R1 million prize awaits the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and in partnership with MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, Mitsubishi, Versa.ph, Victory Liner, Maynilad, Standard Insurance, CCN, Bike Xtreme, NLEX, PhilCycling and 3Q Sports Event Management.
The other teams seeing action are Go for Gold, Neopolitan, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Mindanao, South Luzon, Kinetix Lab-Army, Bike Extreme, Zambales, Salic and One Tarlac.
The main race starts on Feb. 4 with two stages in Ilocos Sur and will pass by Angeles (Feb. 8), Subic (Feb. 9), Lucena, Quezon (Feb. 12), Pili, Camarines Norte (Feb. 14 and 16), Daet (Feb. 17), Paseo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (Feb. 19), Tagaytay and Batangas (Feb. 20), Calamba and Antipolo (Feb. 21) before wrapping up with a pair of stages in Iloilo City (March 3 and 4).