Cebu City to showcase Sinulog festivities in the country’s top spectacle on wheels

Cebu City hopes to showcase the festive mood of the Sinulog Festival as it hosts today the fourth stage of the Ronda Pilipinas starting at the Plaza Independencia.

With the theme of this year’s cycling spectacle focussing on the different festivals of the towns and cities covered by the 16-stage bikefest, Cebu takes its turn in displaying the colors and pageantry of the Sinulog which is held to honor Cebu’s patron saint the Senor Santo Nino.

“We intentionally schedule the races prior to the festivals of the host cities and towns because we also in Ronda Pilipinas wanted to draw more spectators to our cycling event,” said LBC and Ronda Pilipinas Project director Moe Chulani.

With regards to the traffic, Chulani assured that the race will not cause traffic jams because they will just be passing by, unlike fun runs which take hours to finish.

“We met with the city’s traffic management for the preparations and it went well so it’s systems go for today’s race,” said Chulani.

The race will cover a total of 134.2 kilometers traversing the South Road Properties(SRP) heading to Talisay City, then to Naga city and up to Uling Road all the way to Toledo City and back at the Plaza Independencia. The race will kick off at 9 a.m. with 96 riders representing the 12 competing teams battling for huge cash prizes.

LAPU’S TURN TOMORROW

Meanwhile, Lapu-lapu City will host the fifth stage tomorrow starting at the City Hall grounds and finishing in Barangay Busay’s Mountain View Resort. But first, the cyclists will have to cross the Northern side of Cebu, particularly Tabuelan before they will go west to Tuburan and up to Balamban and the Transcentral Highway totaling 156.8 kilometers.

After Cebu, the race will resume on Sunday in Malolos, Bulacan all the way up to Tarlac, Northern Luzon for stage six. The 16-stage event will end in Baguio City on February 1.

Aside from the Sinulog Festival, the race will also witness the celebration of Vigan Day in Ilocos, Tarlac Fiesta in Tarlac and Baguio’s Panagbenga Festival.

Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance is on top of the team overall standings followed by V-Mobile Smart and Roadbike Philippines while Y101FM is at sixth spot.

Leading the overall individual standings is Santy Barnachea of Philippine-Navy Standard Insurance followed by Tomas Martinez of Team Tarlac and Rudy Roque of American Vynil-LPGMA.