Chorvoq, Uzbekistan—Seven Filipino riders led by up-and-coming Daniel Ven Carino will vie in the 2019 Asian Road Cycling Championships in Uzbekistan each hoping to become the next Rustom Lim or Rex Luis Krogg who have won medals in the annual continental race.
Carino, 21 and the Best Young Rider of the 2018 Le Tour de Filipinas from Mangaldan (Pangasinan), is competing in his first of two events—the 40-kilometer Men Under-23 individual time trial (ITT) on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. in Manila).
Earlier on Wednesday at 1 p.m., 18-year-old Marc Ryan Lago, of Taguig City, starts his own challenge in the 30-km Men Junior ITT hoping to kick off the campaign of the team sent here by PhilCycling President Abraham Tolentino and Secretary General Atty. Billy Sumagui.
The team’s campaign is bankrolled by Go For Gold, one of five PhilCycling stakeholders that include Standard Insurance headed by Judes Echauz.
Coached by Ednalyn Hualda, also the team manager of continental team Go For Gold, the Men Junior squad of Lago, Efren Reyes Jr. (18) and Ean Cajucom (17) will campaign in the 105.6-km Men Junior individual road race that starts and ends at Gazalkent—each setting a goal of duplicating or surpassing the silver medal finish Krogg accomplished in the 2018 championships in Myanmar and the bronze Lim bagged in Thailand in 2011.
Carino will again head the Under 23 squad in the individual road race that covers 148.40 kms also in an out-and-back course in Gazalkent with the Filipino riders contending not only against crack teams from Asia but also against the mountain courses and cold and biting temperature that breaks 14 degrees Centigrade at its lowest.
Ismael Gorospe Jr., Joshua Mari Bonifacio and Jerico Lucero complete the Under 23 roster hailed by the Philippine Sports Commission, headed by Chairman William Ramirez, as the potential future of Philippine cycling.
The PhilCycling will also submit its bid to host the Asian BMC Championships for 2020 during the Asian Cycling Confederation Congress that will be held on Friday at the International Hotel Tashkent. A new International Cycling Union-regulation BMX track is nearing completion in Tagaytay for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.