Obosa tops Tour of Luzon qualifying race

Ericson Obosa displayed his sprinting prowess in ruling the final leg of the Liquigaz-LPGMA 2010 Tour of Luzon eliminations Sunday at the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City. A former Tour Sprint King himself, Obosa was with the eight-man lead group together with 2009 Padyak Pinoy champion Joel Calderon since the sixth lap of the 10-round criterium race. But Calderon unfortunately spilled alongside four other riders some 300 meters before the last curve going into the finish line in the eighth lap, giving Obosa the room to maneuver.

The pride of Manaoag, Pangasinan Obosa then outsprinted Joseph Millanes and Manule Naluz to win the race and take home the top prize of P5,000 and a new pair of bike rim. Millanes and Naluz settled for second and third place honors, respectively, and netted their corresponding prizes of P3,000 and P2,000 together with a new pair of bike rim each. “Determinasyon lang. Talagang gusto ko kasing manalo dito para magkaroon ng pagkakataon na makasali ulit sa Tour sa isang taon," said Obosa, a member of Team Columbia Sportswear. Other riders who made it to the top ten and were rewarded with points to qualify for the 15-day 2010 Tour of Luzon on Feb. 17, 2010 were Oscar Rindole, Rey Martin, Jason Garillo, Renato Sambrano, reigning Tour of Luzon and Padyak Pinoy Mountain King Baler Ravina, Julius Mark Bonzo and Roby Urbano. All 164 finishers out of 176 riders who joined the elite category, including the main group led by Ravina who caught up with the lead group only five meters into the finish line, were given an identical time of one hour, 10 minutes and 16.58 seconds. Ruling the other categories on tap were Cesar Nimer Jr. (juniors); Ernie Hortaleza of Microsoft HBC (Executive Division Category A); PhilCycling director Alex Billan (Executive Division Category B); Microsoft HBC (Team Time Trial Category A), LPGMA/American Vinyl (Team Time Trial Category B) and Suunto (Team Trial Category C). The points garnered by the riders will be added to the points they gained during the first two qualifying races by the members of the Philippine National Cycling Association headed by former Tour champion Paquito Rivas to determine the top 100 cyclists who will compete in the 2010 Tour of Luzon. - GMANews.TV