A tale of two tours

This summer, Philippine cycling fans might me experiencing something they haven't experienced since the mid-'70's, a double tour.

Two groups, the United Cycling Association of the Philippines (UCAP) and the Philippine National Cycling Association (PNCA, nee PCAP), have both held qualifying races for the summer tour. UCAP had their trials last month while PNCA will have the last of the two trials today.

As a Cebu-based writer, it's hard for me to get some first hand information about what's going in Manila. I find it easier to get information from the goings on in Europe than from national capital. Had it not been the e-group Philippine-Cycling (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/philippine-cycling/), I would have a hard time getting some useful information for you. Hopefully, I can piece together a good story, not unlike Gil Grissom.

UCAP is headed by the Tony Cruz of WESCOR, a company that sells electrical transformers while PNCA is group headed by Paquito Rivas, the same group who has been organizing the recent editions of the Tour Pilipinas.

Last year, Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. (Dos1), a new group that took over the PNCA, have been a disappointment. There have been stories of alleged rigging of the trials results, the rift between the pro team Casino-Filipino and the way the race in general had been ran that have been hobbling the group, although this can be placed squarely on the PNCA who still runs the technical side of the race.

One thing that bugs me is the failure of PNCA to announce the date of the trials at least 2 months early so that our cyclists can prepare well for the event. It's not as if these boys are trying out for some fiesta crit but for a multi-million peso event! I also wonder why these big sponsors like Tanduay and the national cycling federation Philcycling tolerates this anomalous behavior. This smacks of bias against the provincial cyclists!

I think that it is for this reason that the Cruz have decided to put up their own race. But unfortunately, the UCAP trials were far from clean. Stories of alleged cheating during the trials were rampant. Here are two examples: the winner of the final 30km uphill individual TT clocked approximately 34 minutes. That's close to 60kph uphill, faster than Lance Armstrong ever did in the flats!!! Victor Espiritu came in at 80th place, +26 minutes from the winner. Three Cebuanos made it to the UCAP 84 with Ginging Villaber and J-bop Pagnanawon taking 2nd and 3rd respectively in the ITT. Nilo Barbalose was the other Cebuano.

And now, things have boiled over between UCAP and PNCA. PNCA officials have prevented the 84 UCAP qualifiers from joining their trials. On the other hand, UCAP held a Manila-Baguio race yesterday, a conflict of schedule of the PNCA trials. UCAP is also reported to strike off the list any of the 84 cyclists who will join the PNCA trials.

While the PNCA has announced that their tour will be from April 20-April 30, UCAP is said to schedule their multi day race after the Holy Week, a schedule that will surely come in conflict with the PNCA tour!

Tanduay (and PAGCOR) is believed to have been swayed by UCAP away from the PNCA. As usual, PNCA will have to go to AIR21 for funding as PHILCYCLING president Bert Lina owns the company.

As for me, I could not have been happier for our poor cyclists. Instead of the usual 84 riders, we'll have double that number this summer. On the flipside, this will only show how divided cycling is and this will drive future sponsors away from the sport.