MANILA, Philippines – Reimon Lapaza of Butuan City will have an added motivation when he launches his title-retention bid in the Ronda Pilipinas 2015 presented by LBC – a fallen friend and teammate Vicmar Vicente.
"I will dedicate this race to him," said the 29-year-old Lapaza in Filipino, referring to Vicente, who died in a road accident in Davao City in May last year.
Vicente was a big part of Lapaza's Cyceline-Butuan team when the latter shocked everyone, including heavy favorite Mark Galedo to clinch last year's Ronda crown and the P1 million purse that went with it.
This time, Lapaza will have to do it without Vicente.
"We didn't only lose a close friend but we also lost a big part of our team. It will be tough without him," said Lapaza.
Lapaza said he has prepared hard for this year's race and his top five finish in the Visayas qualifying leg in Dumaguete, Sipalay and Bacolod last week was a testament to how well he has trained the past several months.
"I've been training since last year," said Lapaza.
Lapaza thinks Galedo, the 2012 champion, Army's Irish Valenzuela, the 2013 titlist, Santy Barnachea, the 2011 inaugural winner, and the fast-rising Ronald Oranza as the cyclists to watch out for in the Championship round slated Feb. 22 to 27 from Paseo Greenfield City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and Baguio.
He also says there will be more pressure this year.
"It's going to be a wide open race because Galedo, Valenzuela, Barnachea and Oranza are all strong," said Lapaza. "I also think it will be harder this year because there will be more pressure to perform since I'm the defending champion."
A total of 80-plus qualifiers headed by Oranza and 7-Eleven's Boots Ryan Cayubit, the Luzon and Visayas leg winners, plus the national team and a composit European squad will battle it out for the top prize worth P1 million.
Cayubit and Oranza, both 22, have impressed by displaying their mountain-climbing and sprint skills in the qualifiers.
Of the two, Oranza was the most notable having nearly swept all the awards and prizes totaling P123,000 after he emerged not only the winner of both stages and the Luzon leg but also took the King of the Mountain and Sprint King plums.
After a much-needed three-day break, the race resumes on Sunday with two with a 60-km criterium that will go around Greenfield City in the morning and a 120.5-km lap from Calamba to the Quezon National Park or Tatlong Eme (Three Ms) or Bitukang Manok (Chicken Intestine) in Atimonan, Quezon in the afternoon.
From Atimonan, Ronda will roll from Lucena, Antipolo, Malolos, Tarlac, Dagupan and then Baguio where the final two stages will be held.
The race is presented by LBC and supported by major sponsors the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Mitsubishi and minor sponsors Cannondale, Standard Insurance, Tech1 Corp., Maynilad, NLEX and NLEX Cycling and sanctioned by PhilCycling under Cavite Congressman Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino with TV5 and Sports Radio as media partners.
For updates, check Ronda Pilipinas’ official Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/RondaPilipinas, and Twitter account, @rondapilipinas.