Le Tour: Climbers have final say

It Will be a show by sprinters in the first three stages before the climbers take over in the end.

That’s how the sixth edition of the Le Tour de Filipinas presented by Air21 will be contested, according to race manager Paquito Rivas, who will supervise the four-day bikathon that begins this Sunday in Balanga, Bataan.

Rivas said the Tour, co-presented by the MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, will have seven intermediate sprints spread in all four stages but the climbers will have the final say at the end of the race in Baguio City.

Celebrating 60 years of multistage road cycling in the country, the Le Tour will cover a total distance of 532.50 kilometers starting with a 126 km Balanga-Balanga Stage 1, followed by the 153.75 km Balanga-Iba (Zambales) Stage 2 and the 149.34-km Iba-Lingayen (Pangasinan) Stage 3 before the finale going to Baguio City (101 km) through the famous Kennon Road.

“It will be a fast race with average speeds of no less that 40 kph,” said Rivas, the 1979 Tour champion and arguably the finest Eagle of the Mountain of Philippine cycling.

“But come Stage Four, the climbers will make their one final push,” added Rivas.

Fifteen teams are again entered in the Union Cycliste International-calendared race. June Navarro