Le Tour unfurls 8’s Amazing

Le Tour de Filipinas braces for its grand eighth staging next month with a reverse route promising a more thrilling race dubbed “8’s Amazing” in Southern Luzon.

The four-stage race, which drew 15 teams, including 13 foreign and two local squads, fires off on Feb. 18 from Legazpi to Lucena after hitting the road from Antipolo to Legazpi last year.

This year’s edition of the only UCI-sanctioned race in the country will provide a new perspective to riders, according to LTdF chairman Donna May Lina.

“For cyclists, this will give them another perspective in going back once again. There’s a certain familiarity and unfamiliarity in going the reverse route and it will be another challenge for the cyclists,” said Lina during yesterday’s event launch at Palacio de Maynila along Roxas Boulevard.

Stage One will be a 164.5- km Legazpi to Sorsogon race with the scenic Mayon Volcano and Mount Bulusan as backdrops in the event featuring a Category 1 climb.

The elite field will then tackle the 177.35- km Sorsogon to Naga race marked by a deceptive climb on Tiwi’s hilly coastal road for Stage Two before going in reverse from Naga to Daet in Stage Three.

The race will then culminate with a 207.35-km ride from Daet to Quezon featuring a Category 2 climb over Atimonan’s Tatlong Eme in Stage Four.

Race manager Paquito Rivas said that the reverse route poses more challenge to riders, as it features more climbs.

“The race will be more challenging because reversing the route will give it more climbs. It was also hard last year but this year, we included Sorsogon plus the added challenge of Bitukang Manok and Tatlong Eme,” said the 72- year- old champion of the 1979 Marlboro Tour.

Frenchman Thomas Lebas, 2015 champion, is back to see action under the Kinan Cycling Team, while last year’s winners Oleg Zemlyakov and his Vino 4-Ever SKO squad will not be around to defend their general and team general classification titles after the 23-year-old Kazakh has gone up the UCI Road ladder since ruling last year’s edition.

7Eleven Sava Road Bike Philippines and the PhilCycling national team will banner the local challenge.