Former champs banner field as Tour begins

Eighty-one cyclists, five of them former champions including 2004 titlist Rhyan Tanguilig, will answer the starting gun kicking off the Golden Tour 50@05 presented by Tanduay in Marikina City.

Centennial Tour champion Warren Davadilla and 2003 Tour Pilipinas king Arnel Quirimit will race alongside last-minute entry Tanguilig and ageless warrior Bernardo Llentada, the 1991 winner, and 2002 FedEx Express Calabarzon champion Santy Barnachea in the 10-stage Golden Tour also staged in cooperation with the Department of Tourism.

Today’s first stage — which starts at 9 a.m. — is short at 125 kms from Marikina City to Lucena City, but the grind in Laguna to Quezon, particularly in the Mabitac-Tayabas area, promises a grueling kickoff of the Tour that offers a total prize of P2.7 million.

Organized by Dynamic Outsource Solutions Inc. and T&G Tourism and Development Corp., the Golden Tour has the 81 cyclists racing under nine teams — Colt 45, Guerrero Brandy, Go21, Touch Mobile, PLDT, Department of Tourism, BIR, Customs and Metro Drug.

Tanguilig’s personal appeal to join the race and go after that rare back-to-back crown, a prized jewel only four cyclists have achieved in 50 years of the fabled Tour, was granted by the organizers yesterday morning.

Patrick Gregorio, head of the T&G Tourism and Development Corp., said the organizers agreed on account of Tanguilig’s exploit in the 2004 Tour Pilipinas, then bankrolled by Air21.

The organizers forwarded the instruction for Tanguilig’s inclusion to the Philippine National Cycling Association, the race management group, also yesterday.

Also supported by Sunbolt (official sports drink), Summit (official water), Osaka Iridology which will provide the uniforms for the cyclists and members of the Tour entourage, Island Souvenirs, PhilAm Life and Nestle Power Bar, the Golden Tour is sanctioned by the PhilCycling and will be run under rules and regulations of the Union Cycliste Internationale.

Local government officials, including Mayors Lito Atienza of Manila, Tagaytay’s Bambol Tolentino, Alaminos’s Nani Braganza and Marikina’s Marides Fernando among others have also thrown in their support for the Golden Tour that celebrates the anniversary of the cycling classic.