Ronda Pilipinas hits Cebu

TEAM Cebu Y101 FM is all set for Stage 4 of the 2013 Ronda Pilipinas at 9 a.m., which will start and finish at the Plaza Independencia.

Cebu will be hosting Stages 4 and 5 of the 16-stage race.

The team is composed of team captain Warren Davadilla, a former Marlboro Tour champion, assistant team captain Bernard Luzon, Emelito Atilano, Reynato Sambrano with Cebuano riders Marvin Tapic, Jaybop Pagnanawon and this year’s rookie Jhunvic Pagnanawon.

And their biggest challenge is to dominate a course that they are familiar with.

“We will take advantage of our familiarity with the race route and be more aggressive.

Diri mi mamondo og time and hope that we can improve our sixth over-all standing,” Jaybop Pagnanawon said.

Today’s weather will also play a key role in the team’s performance and the riders hope it doesn’t rain too hard to avoid slipping.

According to the latest weather forecast of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa), Cebu will experience cloudy skies with rainshowers.

“We just hope that it will remain cloudy and dili lang mo bundak ang ulan. But if ever it will rain, we are ready.. We even experienced racing in a storm,” said Marvin Tapic.

He added that if the weather continues to be gloomy and possible heavy rain and strong winds arrive then they will have to be extra careful with the race route especially the slippery parts to avoid accidents.

Jhunvic, on the other hand, who will be racing for the first time in Ronda Pilipinas, said that some of the riders are intimidated by Stage 5 because of the steep climb in Transcentral Highway.

“There are cyclists na gipangandaman gyud nila ning Cebu stages, especially Stage 5 na climb from Balamban passing Transcentral highway upto mountainview resort,” said Jhunvic, the younger brother of Jaybop Pagnanawon.

Team Mindanao Cycline Butuan-TMC team skipper March McQuinn Aleonar said the Transcentral Highway route is only the second most difficult mountain climbing route.

“For me, the most difficult route in this race is Stage 14 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya to Baguio City route, grabe kayo ka steep ang rota ani,” said Aleonar who settled for an over-all fourth finish in the 2011 LBC Ronda Pilipinas.

Stage 4 will be from Plaza Independencia to the Southern part of Cebu back to Plaza Independencia. It will cover 134.4 kilometers. Stage 5 will be on Jan. 18 from Lapu-Lapu City bound to the northern part of Cebu and it will cover 152 kilometers.