PRURide PH 2019 concludes with exciting Subic Bay races

THE 2019 edition of PRURide PH drew to a successful conclusion on Sunday with Marcelo Felipe being declared as the overall winner.

Taking place inside the Subic Bay Free Zone in Zambales, the event, hailed as the country’s largest cycling festival, gathered a large number of participants, both local and international, who took part in the various categories in the weekend of May 24-26.

Veteran cyclist Felipe of the Philippines, riding for 7-Eleven Cliqq Air21, raced to the top of the podium after just two stages before the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organizers decided to scrap the third and final stage because of “extreme weather condition” brought about by heavy downpour.

Mr. Felipe rode a combined 295.8 kilometers for Stages 1 and 2 with a time of seven hours, 57 minutes and 15 seconds to bag the overall title.

Finishing second was South African Brendon Davids of Olivers Real Food, who clocked in with a time of 7:58:02, just 47 seconds behind Mr. Felipe.

Third was New Zealand’s Michael Vink of St. George Continental Cycling Team with a time of 8:01:27.

Other Filipinos who finished in the top 10 were Junrey Navarra at no. 5 (8:02:02), Jhin Mark Camingao at no. 6 (8:03:28), Jonel Carcueva at no. 8 (8:04:52) and Daniel Ven Carino at no. 9 (8:05:25).

Apart from topping the overall general classification race, Mr. Felipe earned 16 UCI points which were also up for grabs in the 2.2 UCI event, which he can use in trying to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

He was also named King of the Mountain and Best Filipino Rider.

“We are happy to finally hold one of the three UCI-accredited races here in our country… It’s been the [cycling] community’s goal to join the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games or the 2020 Summer Olympics and we are happy to help them achieve this,” said Allan Tumbaga, Pru Life UK Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Marketing Officer, as he spoke of the event which also had other activities catered to amateur cyclists.

PRURide PH 2019 kicked off in April with the successful staging of the Criterium race in Filinvest in Alabang. (Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Business World)

PHOTO:

Cyclists at the starting line of PRURide PH 2019 in Subic Bay Freeport (photo from Pru Life UK Facebook page)

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