BACK with a bang.
The storied Tour of Luzon stages its much-awaited comeback with 15 teams set to do battle in an eight-stage race from April 24 to May 1.
The revival of the country’s most iconic cycling event kicks off in Laoag, Ilocos Norte and winds up at the Camp John Hay in Baguio City, with a whopping P1 million cash prize for the champion squad in the field that includes fancied Navy Standard Insurance, 7-Eleven, Excellent Noodles, Victoria cycling team and the national Under-23 team.
Also at stake is P500,000 for the individual winner in a test of grit and endurance.
Race commisissaire Jun Lomibao said a team each from Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand are also set to prove their mettle.
“We conceptualized it more than a year ago because of our chairman (Manny V. Pangilinan), who kept saying ‘I want to see a Filipino or a Philippine team in the Tour de France,’” Pato Gregorio, head of the organizing DuckWorld PH, said in a press launch last Friday at the Meralco Lighthouse in Ortigas, Pasig. “Even back then, MVP kept saying it repeatedly.
“That’s why when we proposed this project to MVP, he said yes right away,” he added.
Among the main backers of the Tour of Luzon: The Great Revival are Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation led by chief regulatory officer Arrey Perez, the Philippine Sports Commission under chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann and Philippine Olympic Committee and PhilCycling chief Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
Aside from the cool pot money amid the sizzling summer heat, Pangilinan is hoping the legendary race will make his long-cherished dream a reality.
“It has been my lifelong dream to see the first Filipino cyclist compete in the Tour de France,” the amiable business magnate and sports patron said. “Reviving the Tour of Luzon is a vital step toward achieving that dream. It is about breaking barriers, one ‘impossible’ challenge at a time.”
