GUANGZHOU—The tough task of landing a cycling medal in the 16th Asian Games are on the shoulders of many-time national riders Lloyd Lucien Reynante and Irish Valenzuela in the men’s road race on Monday and Baby Marites Bitbit in the women’s contest on Tuesday.
But they will have to work extremely hard and rely on the elements if they want to upset the field of grizzled riders packed with countless international experiences and titles. “We are not losing hope. The road race is always anybody’s race,” said Reynante, who will ride his second event in the Games after the men’s 54.4-kilometer individual time trial (ITT) on Saturday where he finished 16th—in a field of 20—five minutes and 31 seconds behind gold-medal winner Choe Hyeongmin of Korea.
“Ang pinakamagandang strategy sa road race ay dapat lagi kang nasa unahan, dahil walang bukas-bukas dito,” added the 32-year-old son of Philippine Tour great Manuel “Maui” Reynante.
The men’s road race will cover 180 km over nine laps in a 20-km circuit, while the women’s event will cover 100 km over five laps also on a 20-km circuit. Fifty-four riders will start in the men’s and 32 will answer the gun in the women’s.
Bitbit, also ninth in the ITT on Saturday (5:31 behind winner Lee Min Hyu also of Korea), is hoping she could adjust quickly to the Guangzhou field.
“Na-focus ang training ko sa Melbourne sa sprint kaya kailangang maka adjust ako agad dito,” said Bitbit, 33, whose brightest moment in the Asian Games came in Doha 2006 when she was fourth in the points race.
Bitbit lamented the absence of “time attacks” in their training program prior to the Asian Games. “Maganda kasi ’yung meron time attack [racing against the clock] kasi malalaman mo kung hanggang saan talaga ang kaya mo sa road race,” said Bitbit, who trained three months in Melbourne but only had one long ride—four hours in the hills of Rizal back home—before flying to Guangzhou.
Valenzuela, 23, like Reynante has experiences in stage races in Asia, but would have to dig deep, and that the elements would topple their illustrious opponents, if they have to land a podium finish.
The men’s road race will again see ageless Hong Kong wonder Wong Kampo (road race gold medalist in Bangkok 1998, Busan 2002 and Doha 2006). Wong, known back home as the winner of the 1997 Marlboro Tour, is now 37.
Iran’s Mehdi Sohrabi (silver medalist in the road race in Doha and gold medalist in the UAE Asian Championships in April), Japan’s Takashi Miyazawa (gold medalist in the 2007 Asian championship road race in Nakhon Ratchasima and silver medalist in the same event in the Nara, Japan, in 2008 ), and Uzbekistan’s Sergey Lagutin (gold medalist in the 2003 world championships in Ontario) are also in the field. Kazakhstan has the Iglinsky brothers, Maxim and Valentin, both of whom ride for Astana in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Pro Tour.
Bitbit has her hands full. The women’s field includes Doha individual road-race champion Mayuko Hagiwara of Japan, the silver medalist in the same event in Doha; China’s Zhao Na and her compatriot Asian champion Gao Min. Korea’s Jina You, the reigning Asia champion, is also in the mix.
The Philippines had two bets in track—George Oconer and John Renee Mier. Both 18 and totally inexperienced, they never mattered in the velodrome races.
Japan’s Tatsuo Hayashi, the UCI appointed commissaire for the 2009 Le Tour de Filipinas, is also the president of the commissaires’ panel for all the cycling disciplines in Guangzhou—road, track, mountain bike and the debuting BMX.
Jun Lomibao, Business Mirror
