FOR years, Cris Joven has always been a contender but never a winner. On this edition, Joven could finally end a long wait.
Joven will go all out to win the title that has eluded him in past campaigns as he will skipper the Team Army Kinetix Lab team in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 starting on Sunday in Vigan, Ilocos Sur and ending on March 4 in Iloilo City.
“I’ve always dreamed of winning the Ronda Pilipinas and I’ll give it my best to win it this year,” said the 29-year-old Joven, a proud son of Iriga, Camarines Sur who have placed in four of five times he joined Ronda, in Filipino.
Joven said he is happy to have a solid back up in teammates Alfie Catalan, Reynaldo Navarro, Alvin Benosa, Lord Anthony del Rosario, Mark Julius Bordeos, Marvin Tapic and a fast-rising Ronnilan Quita.
“We’ve prepared hard for this race and I’m confident we as a team will have a strong chance of figuring well here,” said Joven.
A top purse worth P1 million prize awaits the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and in partnership with MVP Sports Foundation, Petron, Mitsubishi, Versa.ph, Victory Liner, Maynilad, Standard Insurance, CCN, Bike Xtreme, NLEX, PhilCycling and 3Q Sports Event Management.
The other teams seeing action are Philippine Navy Standard Insurance, Go for Gold, Bike Extreme, Ilocus Sur, Mindanao Sultan Kudarat, Iloilo, NCR RC Cola, Tarlac, Neopolitan, South Luzon and Zambales.
The main race starts on Feb. 4 with two stages in Ilocos Sur and will pass by Angeles (Feb. 8), Subic (Feb. 9), Lucena, Quezon (Feb. 12), Pili, Camarines Norte (Feb. 14 and 16), Daet (Feb. 17), Paseo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (Feb. 19), Tagaytay and Batangas (Feb. 20), Calamba and Antipolo (Feb. 21) before wrapping up with a pair of stages in Iloilo City (March 2, 3 and 4).