Tour de Filipinas part of UCI Asian calendar

MANILA, Philippines - The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has approved the inclusion of the Le Tour de Filipinas (Tour of the Philippines) on the Asia Tour calendar in 2011.

The UCI race, also held under the auspices of the Asian Cycling Confederation and the Asean Cycling Association, is scheduled April 16-19.

The four-stage race will again feature at least four UCI continental teams vying against the Philippines’ best riders as well as club teams from Asia and all over the world.

Last year, Ireland’s David McCann topped the inaugural staging of the Le Tour. McCann, a former Tour of Ireland champion and riding for one of Asia’s top continental teams, Taiwan-based Giant Asia, ruled the four-day event that included stages in Tagaytay City, Manila (Roxas Boulevard) and Subic.

A brainchild of former PhilCycling president Bert Lina, the Le Tour de Filipinas is one of 27 races on the busy 2011 calendar of the UCI’s Asia Tour.

The Le Tour also conspicuously put the Philippines back on the world cycling map after more than a decade. The Philippines was on the radar of the world’s top cycling teams when the Marlboro Tour went international from 1996 to 1998 through the efforts of now UCI president Pat McQuaid.

At least four European teams and Marco Polo, perhaps the most competitive continental squad in Asia, have already asked to be invited to the 2011 Le Tour de Filipinas.