Pangasinan out to revive glorious past in cycling

Can Pangasinan regain its lofty billing as home of cycling champions?

This will be answered in the 5th Ronda Pilipinas multi-stage race which hits the road on Feb. 11 and offering a hefty P1 million to the individual champion.

The cycling classic will traverse more than 2,000 kilometers in Visayas and Luzon with a mixture of flat roads, long and winding stretches and uphill routes in the hinterlands of Baguio and the ascend of Quezon and Bicol where cycling experts and odds makers believe will determine the new champion.

Pangasinan riders dominated the fabled Marlboro Tour and Tour of Luzon in the eighties, thus earning the distinction as home of champions, long before Ronda Pilipinas and Le Tour de Pilipinas came into the picture. Organizers of the longest running battle on two wheels finally stopped its sponsorship following the passing of a law banning cigarettes in sports.

The last Pangasinense rider to win the tour was Santy Barnachea, from Umingan town, won the Ronda Pilipinas in 2011 after ruling the Tour of Calabarzon in 2002.

A year later, another Pangasinense rider, Baler Ravina, ruled the Le Tour de Pilipinas, becoming the first Filipino to win the race organized by sportsman/businessman Bert Lina.

The fifth edition of Ronda Pilipinas pedals off a week later after Thomas Lebas, a Frenchman racing for Japan team, wrested the crown from dethroned Le Tour de Pilipinas champion and reigning SEA Games titlist Mark John Lexer Galedo. He became the first rider from France to win a bikathon in the Philippines.

Records showed 14 cyclists from Pangasinan won the tour with Jacinto Sicam, from the town of San Manuel, won the title back-to-back in 1981-82. He became the third rider to achieve the feat after Bicol pride Jose Sumalde and Nueva Ecija bet Cornelio Padilla did it in 1964-65 and 1966-67, respectively.

Rufino Gabot, from Bugallion, earned the distinction as the first rider from Pangasinan to win the Marlboro tour in 1957 after Antonio Arzala, a pandesal vendor, bagged the title in 1956.

The other champions were Mamerto Eden (1959), Edmundo de Guzman (1961), Gonzalo Recodos (1963), Jesus Garcia (1973), Teodorico Rimarim (1974), Samson Etrata (1975), Modesto Bonzo (1976), Romeo Bonzo (1983), Ruben Carino (1984), Pepito Calip (1986), and Bernardo Llentada (1989).

Barnachea and Ravina lead a star-studded cast from Pangasinan competing in the 5th edition of Ronda Pilipinas. Also in the cast include Asian Games campaigner Ronald Oranza, Mark Julius Bonzo, El Joshua Carino, and Harvey Sicam.

Bonzo is the son of Romeo Bonzo and nephew of Modesto Bonzo. Romeo Bonzo became the first cyclist to win the tour as arookie.

Close to 20 riders from Pangasinan spread in various teams are competing in the 2015 edition of Ronda Pilipinas presented by LBC sanctioned by Philippine Cycling Association headed by president Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

Ronald Oranza, a former bike mechanic turned racer from Villasis town, nearly won the title in 2013. He lost to eventual champion Irish Valenzuela, son of a Bicolano butcher from Tabaco City, Albay.

Valenzuela became the third cyclist from Bicol to win a bikathon after Jose Sumalde (1964-65) and Renato Dolosa (1992-95).

One trait that made Pangasinenses such a force to reckon with in cycling is their unselfish attitude. They always lend a helping hand to fellow Pangasinan riders even if they belong to different teams.

Barnachea, Ravina and the other Pangasinense cyclists are hoping to revive their glorious past in the summer spectacle.

The race will be supervised anew by Dutch Martin Bruin, who will serve for the fifth straight time as Chief Commissaire sanctioned by the Philippine Cycling Association headed by Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

Clyde Mariano