MANILA – Cycling track veterans Ronald Oranza and Jermyn Prado will grace the inauguration of the Tagaytay City Velodrome on June 23.

Oranza and Prado, who both won medals in international tournaments, will circle the 250-meter indoor and International Cycling Union-standard velodrome waving both the Philippine and PhilCycling flags during the ceremony that highlights the joint celebration of the Olympic and World Bicycle Day and Tagaytay City’s 87th Charter Day.

“This is to formally and officially announce the formal opening of the Tagaytay City Velodrome, the first of its kind in the country and one that’s of UCI standard,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and PhilCycling president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino in a press statement on Thursday.

Tagaytay City also has competition- and international-standard facilities for BMX Racing and Freestyle, skateboarding, and combat sports.

The celebration will be staged amid the postponement of the Baguio City-Tagaytay City PhilCycling Classic—a 292-km endurance road race among the top 30 finishers in last summer’s Tour of Luzon: The Great Revival—that was supposed to start at Camp John Hay and finish in front of the velodrome also on Monday.

The Baguio City-Tagaytay City PhilCycling Classic was moved to Nov. 11 this year due to the unpredictable weather with scattered thunderstorms and monsoon rains prevailing and with the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. expected to conduct unscheduled repairs in some sections of the North Luzon Expressway. San Miguel Corp.

Infrastructure—operator of the TPLEX, Skyway, and SLEX—has earlier welcomed the race on its expressways.

Tolentino said the Baguio City-Tagaytay City PhilCycling Classic will highlight the send-off and pep rally for Team Philippines to the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December.

“We are setting the pace for a renaissance in Philippine cycling in track discipline and we’ll be marking our cyclists’ return to the velodrome in the SEA Games,” said Tolentino, who entered an entry in each of the men’s and women’s omnium in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the POC will oversee the signing of contracts for the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship and Grants Program with nine athletes signing up for training scholarships for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and 12 more for the Support Grant for Continental Athletes, also on June 23.

The Philippines last won two gold medals on the track at the 2007 SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, courtesy of Victor Espiritu in points race and Alfie Catalan in individual pursuit. (PNA)