SUBIC — Foreign riders have been lording it over two days into the nine-stage 2010 Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA) Tour of Luzon.

But for two-time Tour champion Warren Davadilla, these setbacks are only temporary and could be easily neutralized when the “real” race begins this Wednesday.

”Mahaba pa ang karera. Magkakaalaman 'yan pag dating sa road race,” said Davadilla, skipper of GeoEstate/The Beacon, a real estate developers and supporter of cycling.

Endurance will be the key when the 60 riders from 10 teams go through three consecutive point-to-point massed start races starting Wednesday.

They will negotiate a 133-kilometer ride from Subic to San Jose, Tarlac with a moderate climb to the finish. Stage 6 will again kick off inside the former American naval base with the riders passing through the Bataan Technopark in Dinalupihan, Bataan before finishing it off in Morong after 130 kms.

Another 130 kms of undulating terrain await the riders in Stage 7 where the eventual Tour champion is expected to emerge.

“Malakas talaga sila (foreigners) sa criterium kaya expected na sila ang mananalo sa mga stages na circuit,” said the 35-year-old Davadilla after Canadian Ryan Anderson of Kelly Benefits Strategies ruled Stage 2 (ITT) to take the overall lead from Stage 1 winner James Perry of South Africa.

Davadilla could be right and former Tour champions Paquito Rivas and Rene Dolosa totally agree.

“Maikli ang mga naunang karera kaya tingin ko malaki pag-asa natin pag dating sa road (race),” said Dolosa, the 1992 and 1995 Tour champion who is also coaching partylist group LPGMA.

“Puro sprinters ang mga foreign riders kaya pabor sa kanila ang karera. Sa init ng panahon, sa road natin makikita ang endurance nila,'' said Rivas, the former Tour Eagle of the Mountain.