What's Next for Ronda Pilipinas?

Ronda Pilipinas, the country's premiere cycling event, aims to return in the later part of 2021, its chairman Moe Chulani said.

The MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) has been a sponsor for Ronda Pilipinas since 2011, and is also a contributor to PHILCYCLING, the governing body for cycling in the Philippines. 

While the event has not been directly been affected by the pandemic as it completed 10 rounds before it happened, Chulani said that the next year’s leg is currently being planned to be held in that point in 2021 to consider the pandemic. 

The La Union-Vigan Stage 9 and the Vigan Stage 10 culminated in early March. Chulani said that they are still “meeting (with officials) about whether to lift the ban on cycling” and has to “have the approval of the UCI,” or the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body of cycling.

George Oconer won Ronda Pilipinas’ 10th anniversary race that time. 

Ronda Pilipinas, aside from being an event, it “finds the diamonds in the rough,” Chulani described, which means they discover talents from our around the country. This is the local event’s difference from Tour de France, he added, and that it “focuses on road bike cycling.”

That kind of cycling is a “team sport that’s won individually,” he shared. 

On the subject of teams, Chulani said that for now, the national team “continues training using stationary bikes and the Zwift app.” 

The app is designed for virtual training for running and cycling, and some team members have been unable to practice because they are enlisted in the navy, so their help is needed in pandemic efforts.   

More athletes that Chulani is proud of are Ariana Dormitorio and Daniel “Danny” Caluag. 

Dormitorio is a mountain biker, a three-time national champion, and in 2018, won and Under-23 gold at the Asian championships on home turf. She was the first Filipino to top a continental cycling race, 21 years after Placido Valdez.

Dormitorio is aiming for a spot at the Tokyo Olympics next year, just like Caluag. BMX rider Daniel Caluag is a silver medalist in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.