From the Philippine Daily Inquirer April 12, 1999
Summer incomplete without the Tour
By Chito dela Vega
DEQUITO, Catalan, Igos, Llentada, Buenaventura, Dolosa,
Guieb. Also include Espiritu and a guy named Wong. These are the
names that occupied the sports pages every summer.
Names of cyclists who, until they overachieved in
summers past, were mere ordinary mortals you wouldn't even hear
of the rest of the year.
But for their summer exploits, they deserve to have
their names splashed across the sports pages. They'd ride their
bikes for hours every day under the scorching heat over two weeks
crisscrossing the country. These ordinary boys who performed extraordinary
exploits were the Filipino's version of the boys of summer.
Not this summer though.
For the sports fan, summer ended at the start of
1999 when news broke out that Marlboro was severing its ties with
cycling. Gone with Marlboro was the P60-million lifeblood of the
Tour. The Tour was originally scheduled to start on May 18 and
end June 2.
Most of the post-EDSA revolution sportswriters are
used to churning out their pre-Tour stories about this time to
whet the appetite of the cycling fans.
For post-EDSA sportswriters their first Tour coverage
was in 1987, the year Reynaldo Dequito, a cigarette and fishball
vendor from Valenzuela, won. Dequito pocketed P80,000 for the
victory. Making that year equally memorable was the presence of
one-armed cyclist Joseph Rex Gonzales among the 56 survivors.
Catalan won in 1988 to become the first champion
from Nueva Ecija, while Calauag, Quezon's Gerardo Igos was king
in 1989. Manila-boy Manuel Buevantura dominated 1990.
Easily one of the more memorable Tour victories was
Bernardo Llentada's in 1991. Llentada trailed Carlo Guieb by 46.12
seconds going into the 17th and last stage, a 32-km race-against-the-clock
along Roxas Blvd.
Llentada rode a bike souped up by a never-before-seen
aerobar and a disc wheel to snatch the last lap and win the Tour
with a one-minute and 30.48-second win over Guieb. Not a few likened
Llentada's win to a similar come-from-behind win by American Greg
Lemond in the Tour de France.
Also noteworthy every summer was the rivalry of Guieb
and Renato Dolosa.
Guieb, his generation's most feared mountain-climber,
won back-to-back Tour titles in 1993-1994. He joined such local
cycling greats as Jose Sumalde, Cornelio Padilla Jr. and Jacinto
Sicam. But Guieb won when the Tour returned to a nationwide
format with stages in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon. The legendary
Manuel Reynante also won two Tour ng Pilipinas stagings in 1977
and 1980.
Dolosa, a sly cyclist, is also a two-time Tour champion
with victories in 1992 and 1995.
Guieb became the Tour's first millionaire when his
career earnings surpassed the six-figure mark after his P400,000
winnings in 1994. Dolosa, however, topped that when he not only
got P450,000 in cash but also a brand-new car in 1995.
The last three years saw the rise of different types
of Tour winners. Victor Espiritu emerged as the new king of mountain-climbers
with a stunning victory in 1996, the first time the Philippine
national team became full-fledged competitors.
Then, when the Tour turned global with the recognition
of the Union Cycliste Internationale, a Hong Kong cyclist, Wong
Kam Po ended the Filipino's monopoly. The country got back its
honor in 1998 when tiny Warren Davadilla ended up the Centennial
Tour king.
But the Tour got too big for its own good. And when
the original backers backed out, the organizers and cyclists were
left with an empty bag.
The weatherman said because of the unusual heavy
downpours at this time of the year, summer would end earlier than
usual.
But for the sports fans it's not the early rains
which ended summer abruptly. Summer ended this year because we
won't be reading the names Guieb, Dolosa, Espiritu, Davadilla,
and up-and-coming stars Arnel Quirimit, Bernard Luzon and Santi
Barnachea in the sports pages.
Happy Higee