Pressure mounts for Cariño
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 21:00:15 +0000
by Nick Giongco
TAGAYTAY CITY – All eyes will be on defending champion El Joshua Cariño of the Philippine team when the 10th edition of the Le Tour de Filipinas gets rolling today with the 129.5-kilometer stage that will see 75 riders from five local and 10 foreign teams traversing a route made more challenging with climbs that will immediately put to them to the test.
Cariño, 26, aiming to become the first back-to-back titleholder of the country’s premier road race, admits the pressure is starting to mount and that crucial in his bid to pull off such a feat will be making sure he places well in the first two laps.
Team GO FOR GOLD (from left to right) Ismael Grospe, Daniel Cariño, Elmer Navarro, Jericho Lucero and Jonel Carcueva arrives at Summit Ridge Tagaytay in Gen. Aguinaldo Highway, Tagaytay, June 13, 2019 as they prepare for the Le Tour de Filipinas 2019 Stage 1: Tagaytay City to Tagaytay City in Cavite City. (MB photo | Kevin Tristan Espiritu)
“After the first and second stage, dapat maganda na ang pwesto,” said Cariño, whose family has a storied history in Pangasinan cycling.
Cariño’s relatives, Samson and Ruben Cariño of Mangaldan town, were champions of yesteryears while a younger brother Daniel Ven, is also a fast-rising rider.
Riding under the Philippine national team, Cariño also has teammates a solid cast made up of John Mark Camingao, Jan Paul Morales, Ronald Oranza and Junrey Navarra.
Le Tour 2019 chairman Donna Lina is dangling R1.8-million in cash prizes of the event that is sanctioned by the UCI.
Also contending for honors are four other local teams – Celeste Cycles, Go for Gold, 7-11 Air21 and Bike Extreme – and an international force composed of China, Japan, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
Cariño is aware of the threats to his crown and sees it is as more of a challenge.
“Excited sa karera…panibagong challenge (I’m excited to race…new challenge),” he added, noting that he is in tip-top shape knowing that favorable results in the first two legs are crucial in ruling the five-stage road spectacle.
After the kickoff stage here, the competition moves further down south to Pagbilao in Quezon, for the 194.9-km ride to Daet in Camarines Norte on Saturday for Stage 2. The third will be another long one – 183.7 km – from Daet to Legaspi in Albay while fourth (176 kms) and fifth (145.8 kms) will all be in Legaspi via different routes.