BAGUIO CITY, Benguet. — It all began with baby steps.
Lance Quimirit watched his father, Arnel,a basked in cycling glory in the 1990s and 2000s during the heydays of the Marlboro Tour and other marquee races when he was a child.
The younger Quirimit, who rides for the Philippine Under-23 Tom ‘N Toms Coffee, is now making the most of the opportunity to carve out his own name in the comebacking MPTC Tour of Luzon.
“First time ko po sa Tour of Luzon. Okay naman po ang experience ko sa Under-23 team. Nag-start akong mag-bike before the pandemic. Grade 9 ako that time and nag-start ako mag-compete sa mga karera noong Grade 11 ako,” Quirimit told Malaya-Business Insight after the individual time trial race last Wednesday in Labrador, Pangasinan.
Quirimit, 19, ranked 25th among 99 other bets in the ITT, 2:29 adrift of leg winner Joseph Javiniar of the Excellent Noodles Cycling Team, who clocked 17:25 in the “Great Revival” presented by DuckWorld PH and Cignal.
“Dati noon sa Pangasinan, kapag may lap na dadaan sa Pozzorubio, nakikita ko siya kaya parang nahilig din ako sa cycling,” the Business Administration sophomore at Far Eastern University said of his father.
“Naka-influence din po talaga sa akin ang father ko. Iyong mga kaibigan ko rin niyaya akong mag-bike, nahilig din po ako.”
Quirimit will most likely try his feet in the pro level and the revived summer bike showpiece backed by Pilipinas Live, Meralco, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Maynilad, Metro Pacific Health, Megaworld, Landco, PLDT and Smart certainly was a big start.
“Puwede naman po akong mag-pro. Depende po kung pagpapalain. Ngayon naman po maganda naman ang progress ko sa cycling,” he said. “Most likely po magpo-pro ako. Kaya naman po.”
The eight-stage, 1,074.90-km race sanctioned by PhilCycling and endorsed by the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, Games and Amusements Board, BCDA and MVP Sports Foundation with a cool P1 million prize each for the overall individual champion and team winner ended Thursday here.
With lessons taken to heart in his maiden Tour stint and a legendary dad as inspiration, it’s not far-fetched that another Quirimit will soon rise to become a champion.
