IRISH VALENZUELA, the most promising among the country’s road cyclists, has been offered the chance to race for the Indonesian continental team PMCM CCN Dodol Picnic.

Dodol Picnic team manager Puspita Mustika Adya has sent Valenzuela, who will turn 21 on March 4, his contract through the PhilCycling, the national federation for the sport.

Valenzuela earned the attention of the Asian cycling community when he finished fourth in the general individual classification of last December’s Tour of Thailand.

Valenzuela, along with Victor Espiritu, Lloyd Reynante, Ronald Gorrantes and Warren Davadilla, emerged overall team champion of the six-stage Tour of Thailand. That team had Jomel Lorenzo as head coach with two-time Tour champion Renato Dolosa and Dindo Quirimit as assistant coaches and Dante Valdes as equipment custodian.

Valenzuela and Co. bested 17 other squads in the Tour of Thailand, including continental teams from Japan, Iran, The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and national teams from Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

It marked the first time that a Philippine road team won an international multistage race, which was a fitting follow-up to the sizzling four-gold medal performance in the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Nakhon Ratchasima by the Filipino riders under Lorenzo’s tutelage.

The Indonesians are believed to be trying to beat to the draw the Farso Denmark, a Danish European continental team that was the first to express interest in Valenzuela, the best-placed Filipino in the Tour of Thailand and in the 24th SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima (also fourth). The Danish team made its intentions felt on the Filipino climber during the Tour of Thailand.

PhilCycling president Bert Lina and road commission chairman Leo Magaway welcomed the Indonesian offer to Valenzuela and stressed the federation’s intention to encourage the 2006 Padyak Pinoy top rookie in joining the Indonesian continental team. But Lina and Magaway said the decision rests on Valenzuela’s lap.

Under the contract, Valenzuela will ride for PMCM CCN Dodol Picnic until December 31, 2008, and will be receiving a monthly salary (in US dollars) as prescribed by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) regulations. All his other expenses would be shouldered by the continental team.

It was also stressed in the offer that PMCM CCN Dodol Picnic would release Valenzuela in case the PhilCycling would need his services on the national team.

Espiritu also had Asian cycling experience when he was tapped to race for the Asian All-Star team in the late 1990s. The All-Star competed against continental—then called trade—teams all over Asia.

Continental teams are professional clubs that compete in races within the bounds of the continent they are registered in. Their existence is governed by UCI regulations. All world-class road cyclists are employed by continental teams that abound in Europe, America and Africa.

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IRISH VALENZUELA, the most promising among the country’s road cyclists, has been offered the chance to race for the Indonesian continental team PMCM CCN Dodol Picnic.

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