Lapaza defends LBC crown minus comrade

MANILA, Philippines - Reimon Lapaza of Butuan City is driven by a mission  not only to retain his crown but also honor the memory of  a fallen friend and teammate in the Ronda Pilipinas 2015 Championship round firing off Sunday.

“I am dedicating this race to him,” said the 29-year-old Lapaza in Pilipino, referring to Vicmar Vicente, who died in a road accident in Davao City last year.

Vicente was a big part of Lapaza’s Cycleline-Butuan team when the latter surprised everyone, including heavy favorite Mark Galedo, to snare last year’s Ronda crown worth P1 million.

This time, Lapaza will have to do it sans 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.

He, however, stressed that he had prepared hard for this year’s battle and his top five finish in the Visayas qualifying leg in Dumaguete, Sipalay and Bacolod last week has underscored his readiness for his title-retention bid.

“I’ve been training since last year,” said Lapaza.

But he remains wary of Galedo, the 2012 champion, Army’s Irish Valenzuela, the 2013 titlist, Santy Barnachea, the 2011 inaugural winner, and the fast-rising Ronald Oranza, who will be the marked men when the Championship round is flagged off Feb. 22 at Paseo Greenfield City in Sta. Rosa.

“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, respectively, plus the national team and a composite European squad will slug it out for top honors and the top P1 million purse.

Cayubit and Oranza, both 22, have impressed the field with their mountain-climbing and sprint skills they showed in the qualifiers.

But it was Oranza who stood out as he nearly swept all the awards in dominating the Luzon leg where he also took the King of the Mountain and Sprint King plums.

Sunday’s flag-off will be a 60-km criterium around Greenfield City in the morning and a 120.5-km lap from Calamba to the Quezon National Park in Atimonan, Quezon in the afternoon.