VICTORIA SPORTS Pro Cycling Team (VSPC) will embark on a European journey next month but the ultimate goal still resides at home when it attempts to conquer the dreaded mountains of Luzon.
Tagged as one of the title favorites, VSPC vowed to leave no stone unturned in the much-awaited revival of Tour of Luzon on April 24 featuring eight stages around Northern and Central Luzon with the Summer Capital of Baguio serving as the finale leg.
“Our aim is the top spot. ‘That’s the priority in Tour of Luzon,” founder, team leader and rider himself Pako Ochoa told The STAR as the 18-strong squad VSPC wrapped up its training camp in Batangas on Tuesday.
“We’ll see, while we can prepare the best way we can, same with other teams specially the Pinoy teams who are waiting for the Tour of Luzon.”
VSPC, founded by Mr. Ochoa in 2023 as one of the few continental teams in the country that flies the flag high in UCI tourneys abroad, spent a week in Anilao to rev up for four to five races in Spain, Turkey, Greece, Taiwan and the Philippines from March to April to start the UCI season.
Guided by former Spanish pro cyclist Hector Carretero as sports director as well as former local champions El Joshua Cariño and Arjay Peralta as assistants, VSPC dominated the PhilCycling National Championships for Road earlier this month in Tagaytay as a good momentum entering the season.
VSPC team captain Marcelo Felipe ruled the Men Elite Road Race, Nichol Pareja won silver in the Individual Time Trial (ITT) while its developmental riders Rush Camingao and Darius Villaseñor topped the U-23 Road Race and Junior ITT, respectively.
From there, the team figured in a four-hour training every day in Anilao, traversing challenging routes around Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon to ensure an in-form bearing with hopes of surpassing their international achievements in their first full-season last year.
And of the target is the crown in Tour of Luzon, unarguably the country’s most prestigious race since 1955 that had been in and out of circuit before its “Great Revival” this year made possible by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and DuckWorld PH led by sports patron Manny V. Pangilinan.
Majority of the 18 riders, which also feature foreigners, will travel abroad for Tour of Taiwan, Tour of Hellas, Tour of Turkey and Tour of Asturias while seven locals led by captain Felipe, Pareja, Mr. Camingao, Ean Cajucom, Daniel Ven Cariño, Miguel Obmerga and Kenneth Maramba spearhead the team in Tour of Luzon.
Messrs. Cariño and Peralta will serve as sports directors for VSPC in the Tour of Luzon as Messrs. Carretero and Ochoa headline the delegation overseas with foreign riders Edgar Nieto and Eugenio Sanchez from Spain, Jeroen Miejers from the Netherlands and Nicolas Sessler from Brazil.
Up to 15 teams, including domestics and LGU squads from Iloilo, Nueva Vizcaya, Davao, Cebu and Tagaytay along with foreign clubs from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, will vie in Tour of Luzon that will have stops in Laoag, Vigan, Clark, Lingayen and Baguio.
More than the success in Tour of Luzon though, VSPC’s giant leap in the European circuit is all for the benefit of Philippine cycling sooner than later — individual growth, team performance and country culture-wise.
“The priority is the Tour of Luzon. That’s very important to us because it’s at home but we will not forget the races in Europe. Hopefully in three to four years, we can see some Filipinos fighting for stages in Europe. It’s difficult in one year but soon everybody will climb that European level. We have to go step by step,” added Mr. Carretero. — John Bryan Ulanday
