Pinoy men of steel riding high

7 Eleven-RBP riders Nelson Martin, Dominic Perez, Rustom Lim, Edgar Nieto, Marcelo Felipe and Arjay Peralta (from left) pose for a team photo before the Tour of Dali Lake in Hixegten, China.

Many elite Filipino cyclists look forward to the country’s two major bikathons in the first half of the year to test their skills. After racing in the Ronda Pilipinas and the four-stage Le Tour de Filipinas, they cool their heels and longingly wait for the next tour season to come.

But there are a few who keep to a busy, year-long competition schedule. They are the men who wear the jersey of the 7 Eleven-Road Bike Philippines Cycling Team, the country’s only “continental squad” that regularly see action against Asia’s best and, sometimes, even the world’s most recognizable road racers.

Three-time cycling Tour champion Mark Galedo and veterans Rustom Lim, Marcelo Felipe and Dominic Perez are just four of the few Filipinos who have been racing for the team in its foreign forays at least once every month year-round. What the national team can’t provide in terms of competition stints, team owners Vic Paterno of 7-Eleven and RBP founder Bong Sual gladly deliver.

“We all know that for these cyclists to excel, we have to expose them to opponents far better than them,” says Sual, one of local cycling’s prominent godfathers.

Ever since Paterno and Sual forged a partnership almost a decade ago, the 7 Eleven-RBP Team has carried the Philippine flag in countless overseas races sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body in the sport. This year alone, the team has already joined 12 races, kicking off its 2017 international schedule by racing against Tour de France champion Chris Froome and his Team Sky teammates in the five-stage Herald Sun Tour in Melbourne in late January.

“That was our toughest race as a team so far,” says the multititled Galedo, who in 2014 became the second Filipino—after Pangasinense Baler Ravina in 2012—to win the prestigious UCI-backed Le Tour de Filipinas.

“But we didn’t pressure ourselves. Our goal back then was to gauge our strength in climbing against Team Sky and the world-class cyclists out there,” added Galedo, also the winner of the much-longer 2012 Ronda Pilipinas and the 2009 Tour of Luzon.

After pushing themselves to the limit in that back-breaking race with their foreign teammates Jessie Ewart, Josh Berry, Craig Evers of Australia and Spanish rider Edgar Nieto, the 7 Eleven-RBP riders has continued to gain fame in the Asian circuit.

The Southeast Asian Games-bound Felipe finished third overall in the general classification of the recent 182-kilometer Tour of Dali Lake in Hixegten, China, early this month, with Ewart checking in sixth, Nelson Martin 14th, Perez 16th, and Lim 20th. The team finished a strong second overall.

The team followed it up with another excellent showing two weeks ago in the Tour of Xingyi in Guizhou, China, by placing second overall anew on the strength of Ewart’s eighth-place windup. Martin came in 10th, Nieto 12th, Arjay Peralta 19th and Bonijoe 26th among over a hundred riders.

“We’ve been improving in every race,” says 7 Eleven-RBP head coach Ric Rodriguez. “We haven’t reached our full potential yet.”

Before flying to Kuala Lumpur early last week, Felipe and fellow SEA Games riders Lim and Perez vied in the star-studded Astana International Criterium in Kazakhstan, where world champion and Olympic gold medalist Ed Clancy won the UCI Category 1 race.

The Briton Froome and the Italian Tour de France veteran Fabio Aru also raced against the Philippine continental team, which used the Kazakhstan competition as its final tuneup for the SEA Games road cycling event on Aug. 21 to 24.

“I hope these international exposures have given our cyclists enough confidence to race against the best in the SEA Games and get that gold medal for our country,” says Sual. “But I also advised them not to be complacent and to race smart.”

Apart from the 7 Eleven-RBP riders, also leading the national cycling team in the ongoing Kuala Lumpur biennial Games are Asian Games BMX gold medalist Daniel Patrick Caluag, Singapore SEA Games time trial champion Marella Vania Salamat, George Oconer, Christopher John Caluag and MTB specialist Sienna Elaine Fines.

Joining them are battle-tested road warriors Ronald Oranza, Jerry Aquino Jr., John Renee Mier and track riders Mervin Corpuz and Kristian Emmanuel Reyes.

“We’re still dreaming that one day a Filipino cyclist will qualify and win a medal in the Olympics,” says Sual, a building contractor. “We think that’s possible if we can continue to provide for their needs and send them to more international races, preferably in Europe.”

Indeed, with 7-Eleven and RBP sustaining the country’s gains in the international cycling scene, luck is on the side of the few who get invited to the team.