LBC Ronda Pilipinas seeking young riders for nat’l squad

Discovering young riders for the national team will be the main objective of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2015 when the country’s premiere cycling race hits the road on Feb. 8 in Butuan City.

Ronda Pilipinas executive project director Moe Chulani said the international multistage bikathon, which ends on Feb. 27, will have two qualifying legs of four stages each in Mindanao and the Visayas where the top riders will advance to face a tough foreign challenge in the six-stage Luzon finale.

Chulani said organizers are bidding to secure a certification from the Union Cycliste International (UCI) for the Ronda, now on its fifth year, to be a part of the global calendar.

“This year, we’re requiring teams to recruit young riders because LBC and Ronda Pilipinas are one in helping the country’s grassroots development program,” he said. “We know there are many untapped talents out there.”

Each team will have three officials and six cyclists composed of one junior rider (17-18 years old), two riders within the under-23 bracket and three veterans 24 years and older.

The tour, sanctioned by PhilCycling headed by Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino,  covers a distance of 2,152 kilometers.

A total of 10 teams will race in the Mindanao leg from Feb. 8 to 11 starting with the 195 km Butuan-Cagayan de Oro Stage 1, followed by the 132 km Malaybalay City-Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon Stage 2, the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan City Stage 3 (87 km) and the Tubod, Lanao del Norte-Dipolog City (159 km) in Stage 4.