Of course, there are former champions Warren Davadilla, Carlo Guieb and Renato Dolosa to watch for or veterans Arnel Querimit, Santy Barnachea and even Placido Valdez to consider.
But, this early, there are also a lot of fingers pointing to Ryan Tanguilig and Lloyd Reynante, a pair of young, gifted riders who also happen to be on the same team vying for the P1 million top prize.
"Sila ang malalakas," said Guieb during last Thursday’s caravan that brought the 84 riders plus race organizers, team officials and mediamen from Manila to this city offering a perfect view of the world famous Mayon Volcano.
These two riders, at the helm of the team Pagcor Sports, are expected to make a lot of noise when the Tour officially gets back on the road from a five-year break today with the opening stage.
At 183 kms, it’s definitely not a killer of a stage, but one that would give the riders, divided into a dozen teams, an early test traveling to Sorsogon and back to this city via the towns of Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan and Tabaco.
It will be a relatively flat race with two climbing portion, the last one coming 30 kms to the finish.
Tanguilig, a 23-year-old uphill climber from Nueva Viscaya, finished 11th during the Marlboro Tour’s farewell year in 1988 and, observers believe, is just about to reach the peak of his career.
The same goes for Reynante, a 24-year-old time trial specialist from Muntinlupa who is better known as the son of the legendary former champion Manuel Reynante or simply Maui inside the Tour circle.
"Kung talent ang pag-uusapan, lamang nga sila," said Cornelio Padilla, a two-time champions who is now a top race officials. "But this is not a four-day race. Dito naman papasok ang experience ng mga nakatatanda."
Ten years after the first of his back-to-back crowns, Guieb remains confident of putting up a good show just like Dolosa, the 1992 and 1995 winner who is considered the epitome of the "thinking cyclist."
"Nagpakondisyon din ako. Kaya pa," said Guieb who had to go back down to 60 kgs just to consider himself ready for the race offering P200,000 to the individual champion.
"Si Dolosa payat din. Kasi kondisyon din."
Tour Notes: The caravan, made up of almost a hundred vehicles, was flagged off at Nayong Pilipino in Parañaque at 3 a.m. Thursday and took all of 13 hours and close to 500 kms. to get here. People lining up the streets of major towns or cities in the day, just to watch it pass by, was a very good sign though that the Tour is truly back on its feet ... Ricarlito Balmes, an amiable Marlboro Tour veteran and formerly Renato Dolosa’s assistant captain with the Bicolono squad, is back in the race, not as a cyclist but one of the 30 motorcycle escorts, most of them either with the PNP or the AFP. Balmes is in the Navy ... The cyclists were on board two chartered buses during the caravan, and since the 96 cyclists, including the 12 alternates, couldn’t fit in, some of them, like Carlo Guieb, had to ride in their team vehicles. Guieb was on board a Nissan Sentra, which arrived here with a badly damaged front fender after a traffic mishap along the way. No one was hurt.