Former tour champ out to reclaim title

Frenchman Thomas Lebas has signed up for the eighth edition of the Le Tour de Filipinas to reclaim his throne.

Upstaged by Oleg Zemlyakov and his team, Vino Forever, last year, Lebas will ride for Kinan Cycling Team in a bid to duplicate his 2015 general classification title in the four-stage Union Cycliste Internationale Category 2.2 race slated from Feb. 18 to 22.

“He’s coming back and we expect the race to become tougher because of the foreign teams that will participate,” said Donna Lina, president of Le Tour organizer UBE Media Inc. “And for this edition, we’ve decided to reverse the route from south to north.”

Presented by Air21, the Tour of 75 cyclists from 15 teams will be flagged off with a picturesque view of Mayon Volcano in Legazpi City all the way to Sorsogon City, covering 164.5 kilometers.