Davadilla banners NCR bid in LBC Ronda

MANILA, Philippines - Two-time tour champion Warren Davadilla and his long-time rival Frederick Feliciano provide the 1-2 punch for the NCR team gunning for individual and team honors in the first ever LBC Ronda Pilipinas, which comes off the wraps Sept. 24 in Cagayan de Oro City.

Davadilla, the last of the Marlboro Tour champions in 1998 and winner of the 2005 Golden Tour 50 @ 05 honoring the 50th anniversary of the Tour, will be the second man on the NCR team that will also be vying for the team champion’s prize of P1 million.

At 35, Davadilla, a former member of the national team, proved he is still in shape for the 12-stage, 20-day tour which offers a pot of P1million, tax free, to the individual champion by winning last year’s two-stage PCSO Cycling Classic.

Feliciano, second to Davadilla in the 2005 Golden Tour, also looms as one of the top contenders in the inaugural tour with his top 5 finishes in mini-races during the last six years.

Feliciano topped the NCR eliminations last May to become the skipper of the team in the 1,560 km. cycling event that will take the riders on a trek of key cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, including the dreaded 188km Baguio-to-Baguio stage that will decide the inaugural champion.

Other members of the six-man NCR team are Roby Urbano, Dante Cagas, Reinhard Gorantes and Darill Dann Bernabe, who is also in the race for the Under-23 category of the tour organized by LBC Express, Inc., the country’s leading courier firm.

Up north, Cagayan Valley has put up a team skippered by Tour veteran Stalin Benito from Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya. Also a carryover from the Marlboro Tour 12 years back, Benito has been active in local competitions in between his chores in the Navy since 1999. He will draw support from Julius Diaz, Jefren Tiqui, Greg Gines, Roderick Acosta and Joseph Salcedo.

Ilocos Sur will parade a crew composed of skipper Jason Garillo, Ryan Serapio, Nilo Estayo, Dolar Leal, Jerrico Brioso and Dante Cabatic.

LBC Express, Inc., headed by chief executive officer Fernando Araneta, has assembled what is considered the biggest tour since 1998 with the participation of 96 riders divided into 16 teams culled from a series of eliminations last summer.

The other provincial/regional teams are East Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Central and West Pangasinan, Tarlac, Southern Tagalog, Bicolandia, Davao, North and Central Mindanao, Cebu and Negros.

Completing the roster are two commercial teams – American Vinyl and 7-11 – and the National Team composed of under-23 riders.

At stake in the tour is P7 million in tax-free cash prizes, including P500,000, P250,000, P125,000 and P100,000 to second to fifth placers in the individual category and P500,000, P250,000, P100,000 and P90,000 to the second-fifth placers in team competition.