Cariño brothers ride to historic finish

LINGAYEN, Philippines — Since their first rides together in their home town of Mangaldan, Pangasinan, cycling siblings El Joshua and Daniel Ven Cariño have dreamt of standing side by side in the podium of a major race.

Yesterday, tackling a route they knew like the palm of their hands, El Joshua of Philippine Navy and kid bro Daniel of 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines realized their cherished aspirations and finished a 1-2 in the third stage of the ninth Le Tour de Filipinas here.

Joshua, the lap winner, and Daniel, the stage runner-up, carved their names into the annals of Philippine cycling with this feat in the 188.11K race from Bambang in Nueva Vizcaya to Maramba Boulevard here.

“No brothers have ever finished 1-2 in a Philippine tour stage before,” noted two-time Tour winner Jesus Garcia, who was at the finish line.

The Cariños decided to extricate from lead pack in Santa Barbara town, some 30K to the finish, banking on their familiarity of the Pangasinan roads to establish a gap, then went neck and neck in a thrilling sprint finish with Joshua reaching home first. 

The siblings received identical clockings of 4:28:56 even as Phl national mainstay Mervin Corpuz made it an all-Filipino podium with his third-best 4:30:26.

The Cariños sizzling performance catapulted them to the Top 2 in the individual general classification going to today’s deciding 144.65K climb to Baguio. Joshua logged 8:17:23 through three stages, four seconds ahead of Daniel (8:17:27), and 1:41 adrift Stage Two leader and Navy stalwart Ronald Oranza (8:19:04).

“Dream come true kasi history talaga yun. Gusto naming gumawa ng history sa cycling na magkapatid na nanalo sa UCI (It’s a dream come true for us because we really wanted to make history as brothers to win Top 2 in a UCI race),” said Joshua, 25.

Although they race for rival teams, joining forces wasn’t a problem for Joshua and 19-year-old Daniel, relatives of 1975 Picaa Tour champion Samson Cariño and 1984 Marlboro Tour kingpin Ruben Cariño.

“Madali sa aming dalawa kasi magkapatid kami. Nangyari na yun last year na dalawa kaming magkasama pero pinatunayan namin na kaya din namin sa UCI (We did this before but now proved we can also do it in a UCI race),” said Joshua.

“Balwarte rin namin ito, pamilyar kami sa lugar na ito, kabisado namin ang ruta kung saan kami magtotodo. Tapos dito pa ang finish sa Lingayen (This is our bailiwick, we knew the roads, where to push real hard and we want to finish victorious here in Lingayen),” said Daniel.