Tanduay backs Le Tour de Filipinas

MANILA, Philippines - Tanduay is giving Philippine cycling a big push with its support as presentor of the four-day Le Tour de Filipinas, formerly the Tour of the Philippines, which starts Saturday.

 Smart and Air21 are also the major sponsors of the event and are forming a team for the tour, now   part of the Asia Tour calendar of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for cycling.

Gary Ong will manage Tanduay’s team in the race.

The tour is organized by the Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. headed by Gary Cayton and held under the auspices of former PhilCycling president Bert Lina, Smart of telecommunications mogul Manny V. Pangilinan and Air21, headed by Lito Alvarez.

This year’s Tour will be run in Tagaytay City, Roxas Boulevard, Quezon City and Subic. The Smart team will be managed by Carlos Leviste while the Air21 cyclists will be handled by Emma Arceo.

Returnees in the Tour are former Padyak Pinoy team champions Wow Videoke and American Vinyl. Wow, which won the team trophy in 2007, will be led by team manager Edwin Cruz this year. American Vinyl, which will be managed by Eric Sy, was last year’s Padyak Pinoy team winner.

Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, also the PhilCycling president, has fielded the national road team, with 7-Eleven of PhilCycling board member Bong Sual also testing its mettle against 10 local and seven foreign squads on the roster.

Three new teams joining this year are Extra Joss, which will be managed by Bernie de Leon, and two from Camarines Sur, both managed by Dr. Nucita Año – Camsur Water Sports Complex and Camsur Lagos del Rey.