Victoria Sports Pro Cycling aims to elevate Philippine cycling to new heights and feats

VICTORIA Sports Pro Cycling (VSPC) is ready to conquer every summit of the world with a bevy of international races next year after a productive season highlighted by new heights and feats, individually and team-wise.

At least 20 International Cycling Union (UCI) races are listed for VSPC’s 2025 calendar, making it a perfect chance to paint the Philippine map bigger and brighter in the world of cycling, according to founder and team captain Pako Ochoa.

The first order of business for the continental squad will be the Sharjah Tour in the United Arab Emirates in January as the VSPC doubles down on its noble advocacy of elevating the level of Philippine cycling to the world standards, especially the European circuit.

“Our biggest milestone is that the team has created a culture for Filipino cyclists to compete at the highest level of cycling and to compete against the biggest riders in the world,” said Mr. Ochoa.

VSPC, the country’s premier pro cycling club, participated in more than 20 races as well last year across 18 countries with local ace Ean Cajucom making his mark.

Mr. Cajucom won the Ramos Cycling Race, Nichol Pareja ruled the PhilCycling National Championships for Road individual time trial (ITT) while Nicolas Sessler topped the General Classification (GC) and the second stage at the Tour of Salalah in Oman, where Jeroen Meijers also had a third-place finish in Stage 4.

In China, Mr. Meijers ranked sixth in GC and Mr. Cajucom scored a fourth-place finish in Stage 3 of the Trans-Himalayan Racing Race. Mr. Meijers then topped the Road Race, Mr. Cajucom had a bridesmaid finish in the criterium of the OITA Urban Classic in Japan while Marcelo Felipe earned the King of the Mountain title in Stage 1b of the International Tour of Hellas in Greece and finished 19^th overall.

As a team, VSPC topped the Oita Classic and impressed at the Tour of Salalah in Oman (third), Tour of Routhe Salvation (fourth) in Turkey and the Trans-Himalayan Cycling Race (fifth) in China.

And there is no stopping the VSPC from there on when it returns home for the Philippine Nationals after its UAE stint before embarking on a world tour with stops in the Netherlands, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Serbia, Japan, Lithuania, China, Romania, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.

VSPC will parade a 15-man roster this season with four foreign reinforcements to join Messrs. Ochoa, Cajucom, Sessler, Meijers, Pareja and Felipe. They are Alexis Pagara, Ismael Grospe Jr., Daniel Ven Cariño, Edson Carbadora, Miguel Andrei Obmerga, Kenneth Maramba and Edgar Nieto with veteran Spanish rider Hector Carretero serving as sports director.

Local champions El Joshua Cariño and R-Jay Peralta join Mr. Carretero as assistant sports directors in the formidable VSPC roster made up of seasoned and promising riders from different clubs here and abroad. — John Bryan Ulanday