MANILA, 3 May — The Philippines’ own version of Tour de France is coming back to life.
Thanks to the Federal Express, the annual cycling classic — moribund for three years — back on the road and is set to wheel off on May 3.
The revival of the fabled cycling competition, long been known as the Tour of Luzon and later Marlboro Tour, will be called Express Tour of Calabarzon.
Filipino cyclists welcomed the staging of the four-day FedEx race that will revive the country’s biggest summer spectacle on wheels which made heroes out of unknown names like Jose Sumalde, Cornelio Padilla, Manuel Reynante, among others.
The Marlboro Tour was scrapped in 1998 after Marlboro dropped its sponsorship due to a realignment of its advertising policies and a law banning tobacco companies from sponsoring sports events.
But the FedEx race will serve as the kick-off leg of a five-year plan designed to explore the grassroots and improve the country’s standing in the international cycling scene. The mini-tour will run up to June 2.
"We are excited about the opportunity to revive the sport of cycling through the FedEx Express Tour. Hopefully, through this event, we will move towards being a cycling powerhouse in Southeast Asia, in Asia, and even in the world," said Bert Lina, chairman of Airfreight 2100, Inc, the official licensee of Federal Express in the country. FedEx is ready to earmark a whopping 300 million pesos for an ambitious five-year plan to revive the Marlboro Tour.
Lina said that the tour will not only serve as the cyclists’ "venue to sharpen their skills," but will also create a positive impact in society.
"It would be fitting that the Philippines’ greatest road race will inspire all of us to put the Filipino race back on the road to greatness," said Lina, adding that the sport revives age-old traditions such as hard work and resiliency.
The FedEx Express Tour will feature more innovations aimed at building on the success of the defunct Marlboro Tour, which handled the annual summer event for 22 years.
"We will be putting in a few changes from the past tour. But all of these will be done to ensure that every year, our cyclists will have an incentive to improve," said Lito Alvarez, president of Airfreight 2100, Inc. and organizer of the Tour of Calabarzon.
Among the innovations will be an added pot prize for any rider who will meet the required speed and the time parks to be set by the Professional Cycling Association of the Philippines (PCAP), which has been designated as race manager.
Aside from over 1 million pesos in prizes — the individual classification winner getting 50,000 pesos and the team classification champion earning 200,000 pesos — FedEx will be earmarking a substantial amount as bonus to the rider who meets the required time and speed marks.
Another innovation will be the dispersal of the national athletes to the different regional teams that will participate in the event via a basketball-style drafting sequence.
Around 60 cyclists have already confirmed their participation in the tour, with the Philippine Amateur Cycling Association (PACA) generously committing the national riders for the event.
The teams that will participate in the Tour of Calabarzon include Pangasinan, Ilocandia, Visayas, Mindanao, Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Cagayan Valley, Nueva Ecija, Laguna Rizal and Bicol.
Among the previous Tour heroes who have voiced their intention to join are Placido Valdez, Renato Dolosa, Carlo Guieb, Victor Espiritu and Warren Davadilla.
Lina has turned over the symbolic checkered flag from Quito da Roza, the marketing director of the previous Tour, to Lina, who is being groomed as the legend of cycling.
"This is a momentous event," said da Roza after the turnover. Besides Lina, Alvarez and da Roza, those who attended the news launch were Padilla, former Marlboro Tour organizer and lawyer, PCAP president Paquito Rivas, PACA president Ponciano Regalado and Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Eduardo Villanueva.
Local riders have not tasted top-notch cycling action since the Marlboro Tour was last staged in 1998. National team cyclist Warren Davadilla won the last staging of the Tour in 1998.
Since 1955, the Tour has been the most widely-anticipated annual cycling event in the country. The courier firm FedEx will fill in the vacuum left by Marlboro to revive the country’s biggest summer sporting spectacle and quench the Filipino cyclists’ thirst for big-time action on local shores.
Under the FedEx plan, the Tour will grow into a 12-stage event next year before evolving into a full-fledged Tour of the Philippines in the next two years.
After that, FedEx intends to bring in foreign competitors by hooking up with the International Cycling Union (UCI).
Meanwhile, the national cyclists’ preparation for international meets, including the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, and hopefully, the first Filipino to make it to the Tour de France can expect a shower of support as the supporters of the FedEx tour promised to set aside part of its five-year, minimum total of 300 million pesos budget as funds for their training and livelihood.
Alvarez said FedEx tour’s five-year plan is aimed at training the national cyclists for a "strong showing" in the sport when the Philippines takes its turn in hosting the regional event from Vietnam three years from now.
"We will definitely set aside excess funds of the tour and will channel those into a foundation for national cyclists. We are also planning to come up with scholarships for the cyclists’ dependents," said Alvarez.
Lina, on the other hand, had an even bolder objective, saying he believes the Filipino cyclists are capable of competing in the Tour de France.
"I will support the first Filipino who makes it to the Tour de France," he said. "I hope that through the Philippines’ greatest road race, we will move toward being a cycling powerhouse in Southeast Asia, in Asia and even the world."
But at the moment, the FedEx tour is more than enough reason to rejoice for the pedal-pushers sidelined by former chief sponsor Marlboro’s pullout after the 1998 edition.
Stage One of the Tour will be a massed start from Luneta to Batangas City (165 km). Stage Two will be massed start from Batangas City to Lucena City (155 km), Stage Three will be a team trial from Lucena City to Lipa (78 km) and Stage Four is a massed start from Lipa City to Luneta, totaling 188 km.
The Tour, according to Alvarez, will make itself distinct not only through prizes but incentives for cyclists who will meet the standards year after year.
Members of the national cycling team will be drafted by each of 10 teams to ensure balance in competition, according to Alvarez.
He said foreign participation in the event will be planned in the future stagings of the Tour although the focus will be on local cyclists first.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Eric Buhain lauded FedEx’ support for cycling, saying that this is in line with the agency’s vision for having corporate sponsors for each sport. Lina, according to Alvarez, wants to support the national team in their participation to international tournaments and put them at par with their Asian and other international counterparts.
"Our interest is not centered merely on the revival of the Tour. We’re not going into it just for the sake of getting it over and done with. Mr. Lina has a vision to put the country in the world cycling map," Alvarez said. "Cycling has been the passion of Mr. Lina since he was young."
Lina, he said, wants the Tour to be "a grassroots base from where cycling stars will be discovered" and even plans to become the "legend" of the national cycling team.
The staging of the FedEx race has generated a wave of excitement from cyclists all over the country.
"This is good news for the cyclists. They have waited for a long time for the revival of the Tour," said Rivas, who is also the Tour’s original Eagle of the Mountain.
