They may be going home without a trophy, but the All-Filipino riders of the 7-Eleven-Ciqq-Air21-RoadbikePhilippines made their mark in the just-ended PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia.
Living up to the gameplan of director Ric Rodriguez, the Pinoys put the rest of the 100-plus pro riders from around the globe always on their toes in the eight-stage odyssey on wheels.
“I told my boys that always go for opportunities. And the most realistic at hand here at Langkawi tour are the Sprint or KOM honors or the best Asian stage finisher,” said Rodriguez.
Two of his men, national riders Ryan Tugawin and Nichol Pareja responded in stage 5 and found resounding success.
With Pareja playing able support, Tugawin grabbed Sprint honor in the 126.4km stage that ended at the summit of the Genting Highlands in Pahang.
He may have finished at the lower rung of the classification ranking after the stage, but not after a daring act that had the rest of the field looking dazed.
Sprint king Arvid De Kleijn of Tudor has recognized the efforts of the Asian riders, especially from the Philippine’s 7-Eleven team, who have become known for repeatedly trying to break away from the peloton.
“I can only appreciate them. They really make the race faster because the group had to catch up with them.”
The other members of the 7-Eleven-Ciqq-Air21-RoadbikePhilippines are Ismael Gorospe, Junreck Carcueva, Rench Michael Bondoc, and Joshua Pascual.
Joshua Pascual went back to Manila after stage 8 to rejoin the national team that will compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games while Junreck Carcueva was disqualified due to technicality.
But it didn’t dampen the team’s spirit as the remaining four continued to threaten the field in the sprint portions.
“Basta yan ang gameplan naming palagi, atake pag may tsansa. Mas mahirap ang naghahabol,” added Rodrigues who revealed plan to hire foreign players to beef up the team.
“We will see kung papaano, iba pa rin talaga kumuha ng world-class caliber para mas tumaas pa ang confidence ng mga bata especially during karera.