Army hopes to buck star rider’s injury in Ronda

Army-Bicycology will try to recover from losing skipper Cris Joven to injury as it competes in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2019 set to start on Friday in Iloilo City.

The 31-year-old Joven injured his left elbow during training in Cavite two weeks back, leaving the Armymen minus their leader and top rider for the race.

Warren Bordeos will fill the spot left by Joven while Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Alfie Catalan takes over as captain for a team composed of Reynaldo Navarro, Marvin Tapic, Mark Julius Bordeos and Robinson Estevez.

“Cris Joven will be a big spot to fill because he’s our best rider and leader of this team,” said Army-Bicycology manager Eric Buhain. “But we will do our best to be as competitive without him because we will not only represent Army but the country as well.”

Army-Bicycology will face a tough local field led by Navy-Standard Insurance.

There will also be a strong foreign challenge as well from Terengganu, Matrix, Nex Cycling Team, Korail Team Korea, Custom Cycling Indonesia, Cambodia Cycling, PGN Road Cycling and Sri Lanka Navy Cycling Team.

Ronda is sanctioned by the world governing cycling body (UCI) and will stake qualifying points to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.