Former Ronda champions banner tenth anniversary field

Ronda turns 10.

Even without defending champion Francisco Mancebo, the tenth-anniversary edition of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas will not be without the notable star wattage, with five former champions set to lead their respective teams when the race starts on February 23 in Sorsogon.

Two-time champions Jan Paul Morales (2016-17) and Santy Barnachea (2011, 2015) seek to become the first three-time champions in the competition, while Jean Mark Galedo (2012), Reimon Lapaza (2014), and Ronald Oranza (2018) seek to become the third cyclist to win two Ronda races.

Morales shares, "I always aim to win in all the race I join and I’m confident of my chances this year," while Barnachea says that he would do his best to win, adding that "We’ll know when the race starts but for me, anything can happen in this kind of race."

Aside from Mancebo, 2013 champion Irish Valenzuela is the only other former winner not racing in this year's edition, which stakes PhP 1 million for the individual champion.

Other potential contenders for the title include former Le Tour champion El Joshua Carino and his teammates at Navy-Standard Insurance Junrey Navarra and George Oconer, Marcelo Felipe and Rustom Lopez of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines, Ronnel Hualda, Daniel Ven Carino, Ismael Grospe, Jr., and Jonel Carcueva of Go for Gold, Cris Joven, Marvin Tapic, and Dominic Perez of Army-Bicycology, and Michael Angelo Ochoa and Warren Bordeos of Bike Xtreme.

LBC Ronda Pilipinas chairman Moe Chulani also announced a slight tweak to the race format, moving Stage Six from a Lingayen-Lingayen route into a Tarlac-Tarlac one, as well as changing the Stage Seven route from Lingayen-Palayan into Tarlac-Palayan. All other stages remain unchanged.

When asked about this year's edition, Chulani shares, "We’re expecting an exciting race because most practically all the country’s top cyclists including most of our past LBC Ronda Pilipinas champions are joining."

This year's edition of Ronda Pilipinas is presented by LBC and sponsored by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation. Backing the tenth-anniversary race as well are Versa, 8A Performance, Print2Go, Petron, Green Planet, Bike Xtreme, Standard Insurance, Spyder, CCN, Lightwater, Prolite, Guerciotti, Black Mamba, Boy Kanin, Vitamin Boost, NLEX-SCTEX, Maynilad, 3Q Sports Event Management Inc., LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.