ALL eyes are on the Navy-Standard Insurance cyclists again as the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 hits the North with the five-stage Luzon Leg unfolding on Sunday at the Paseo de Santa Rosa grounds in Laguna and ending on April 9 in cold Baguio City.
Showcasing skill, preparedness and teamwork, the Navymen emerged victorious in the first two phases with Jan Paul Morales topping the Mindanao Leg last February and Ronald Oranza winning the Visayas Leg a month ago.
And Morales and Oranza should be the riders to watch when the LBC Ronda road goes up North.
“I felt the heat in the Visayas, but I handled it,” said Morales, who still finished in the Top 10 in the Visayas after his Mindanao triumph..
“Bring it on,” Oranza, who hails from Villasis, Pangasinan, for his part, said.
Rudy Roque should be another Navyman to look out for after he wound up second in the Visayas.
“If I will have my chance, I’ll take it,” said Roque, a native of Bataan.
For Navy playing skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante, he just wants his team to finish strong.
“We’ll go for a sweep,” said Reynante, who himself did well the last time after he ended up fourth overall in the last leg.
Reynante though thinks it will be tougher this time.
“The opposition is getting stronger and we expect it to get even more tougher in Luzon,” he said.
LBC-MVP Sports Foundation will be the team Navy should be wary about after finishing strong in the Visayas Leg.
Ronnilan Quita, an unheralded rider out of San Jose, Tarlac, came out of nowhere in snatching a second place finish in Stage Four behind former Tour champion Joel Calderon of Navy.
More dangerous is Rustom Lim, who finally snatched a stage victory from Navy by reigning supreme in the final stage also in Roxas City that catapulted him to a second place finish overall.
They will be watched.
“We expect them to really challenge us and we know they will be more dangerous in Luzon,” said Reynante. “But we will be ready for them because we only took a brief break during the Lenten Season to get back to training.”
After the Paseo Stage One criterium, the race continues with the Stage Two Individual Time Trial (ITT) that will unfurl in Talisay City in Batangas and end in scenic Tagaytay City the next day.
Antipolo City will host Stage Three with a criterium on April 6 before LBC Ronda closes with a Stage Four road race from Dagupan City, Pangasinan to Baguio on April 8 and another criterium on Baguio on April 9.
The event, organized by LBC Express, is sanctioned by PhilCycling and sponsored by Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Versa Radio-Tech 1 Corp. with Maynilad and NLEX as minor sponsors.