PH riders shoot for Olympic points in Subic

Ismael Grospe Jr. and Daniel Ven Carino, two of the most gifted young riders in the country, are gearing up for a crucial race that can determine their possible stints in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Both elite cyclists from Go For Gold Philippines Continental Team are among the brightest bets in the second leg of the PRURide PH 2019 road race set May 24 to 26 in Subic.

They will be joined by seasoned riders from at least 25 foreign teams, all of them seeking to grab precious Olympic qualifying points for the Tokyo Summer Games.

The finest cyclists from South Korea, Uzbekistan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand are seeing action along with the intrepid Filipinos.

Aside from Grospe, the best young rider in the Ronda Pilipinas, and Carino, also vying for qualifying points are Marcelo Felipe and Dominic Perez of 7Eleven-Road Bike Philippines, Philippine Navy’s Jan Paul Morales and Jermyn Prado, and Go For Gold skipper Ronnel Hualda.

“This race is very important for Filipino riders because certain points are awarded to stage winners and the top overall finishers,” said 7Eleven-Road Bike Philippines team manager and PRURide race consultant Rick Rodriguez.

Go explained that only the top 130 male riders and 67 female cyclists will earn spots in the road race event in the Olympics.

Rodriguez added that these riders should come from the top 50 countries. Right now, the Philippines is ranked 41st heading into the second leg of the PRURide.

“We’re hoping that our riders will perform well in this race,” said Go.

They will race for individual, team and stage honors during the three-day bikathon around Bataan and the peak of Mount Samat.

It is the only Olympic qualifying event that the Philippines will host.

Morales and Prado topped the Road Bike Open Male and Female categories during the first leg of the PRURide PH in Filinvest Alabang last month.