Savior of local cycling

A low-profile but high-achieving sportsman has quietly revived global interest in Philippine cycling and now, even the government has acknowledged his tremendous contributions to sports tourism through Le Tour de Filipinas, the first and only local road race sanctioned by the Swiss-based Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

That sportsman is Bert Lina who turns 65 today. His involvement in sports goes beyond cycling. He’s an avid golfer with a handful of holes-in-one to his credit and a basketball fanatic. But those close to Lina swear it’s cycling that’s closest to his heart even as his first venture into sports was with the Laguna Lakers in the Metropolitan Basketball Association in 1999. His love for basketball, however, endures and today, he controls the Air 21 franchise in the PBA.

This year, Lina’s Le Tour celebrated its fourth staging with 75 riders, including 50 foreigners, signed up for the 616-kilometer stretch. By the time the four-leg race ended in Baguio City, the pack was down to 52 with Iran’s Ghader Mizbani crowned as King of the Road.

Le Tour’s history goes back to 1955 when it was called Tour of Luzon. Filipino Antonio Arzala won the inaugural four-stage event from Manila to Vigan. The race spawned several cycling legends like two-time champions Cornelio Padilla Jr., Jesus Garcia Jr. and Jose Sumalde. In 1976, Tour of Luzon became Tour of the Philippines and in 1979, it was renamed the Marlboro Tour. In 1997, the event opened its doors to Asian participants and Hong Kong’s Wong Kampo emerged the first foreigner to top the race, beating Victor Espiritu for the title. Then came a three-year hiatus where the tour was canceled.

Finally, in 2002, the race was revived with Lina at the helm. It was relaunched as the Tour of Calabarzon with Santi Barnachea the winner of the four-stage event. In 2003, the race extended to 2,849.8 kilometers over 15 stages and was called Tour Pilipinas. The route traversed the same distance in 2004 with 17 stages and Ryan Tanguilig the winner. In 2005, the race celebrated its 50th anniversary and was dubbed the Golden Tour @ 50 with Warren Davadilla clinching. The next year, Padyak Pinoy was introduced as an eight-stage race and in 2007, it went through 10 legs. The tour took a year off and returned in 2009 as Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions, an eight-leg race over 1,070 kilometers.

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With sanction from UCI, Lina conceived of Le Tour as a vehicle for sports tourism and welcomed international entries. It was also his way of upgrading the quality of cycling in the country and challenging Filipino riders to defend the home turf. UCI allowed only four days of competition for Le Tour to fit in the global calendar and Lina gladly obliged. Ireland’s David McCann won the first Le Tour in 2010, Iran’s Rahim Emami the second in 2011 and Filipino Baler Ravina the third last year. Mizbani brought the crown back to Iran last April 13-16.   

“We’re hoping that UCI gives us an additional day for next year’s Le Tour, making it a longer stretch,” said Allan Gregorio, the Lina Group of Companies sports director. “With Mr. Lina as chairman of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines, we’re experiencing a resurgence of interest in the sport. We are coordinated with LBC which sponsors the 21-day Ronda as an all-Filipino event covering the entire country. Le Tour has brought cycling to a new level of competition. Gone are the days when organizers were milked to provide everything for participating teams and cyclists from tires, helmets, uniforms, food, accommodations and a lot more. Le Tour was able to professionalize the event and get serious corporate team sponsors to manage the competing teams. The Department of Tourism has recognized Le Tour as a key project of sports tourism.”

Gregorio explained that in a UCI-sanctioned event, the prize money isn’t a priority. “What’s more important to the cyclist is the points that will enable him or her to compete in the big cycling events globally,” he went on. “For the Filipino cyclist, it’s the opportunity to earn as many points as possible for the chance to represent our country in events like the Olympics. That’s why Le Tour encourages more corporate sponsors to participate so that we can hold more UCI-sanctioned races in the country similar to what China and other Asian countries are doing. We’re grateful to Mr. Lina for making this happen for Philippine cycling. It’s the reason why he is called the new messiah of Philippine cycling.”

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As for Lina’s love for basketball, he thought of an innovative camp last year to develop point guards with exceptional ceiling. Boys who are tall often find themselves playing as bigs but in Lina’s view, they could be trained as tall point guards like Magic Johnson. He called the camp “Higanteng Gilas” and it’s a point guard academy supervised by Gregorio. “The year-round camp is coordinated with the PBA and Commissioner Chito (Salud),” he said. “So far, we’ve gotten 21 players, 15 years old and below with extraordinary height. One of our campers is 14-year-old, 6-4 1/2 Stephen Jimenez who’s now with the UP high school varsity. We’re breaking out of the mold of a small point guard. Now, we’re thinking big.”

Lina got his friends and family together for a golf tournament yesterday. It’s typical for Lina to celebrate a special day with a sporting event – that’s how much he believes in sports as a way of life, a passion he shares with his wife Sylvia and their four daughters April (married to PBA guard Wynne Arboleda), Donna Mae (married to Kenneth Clavier), Sheila and Bertha and two grandchildren. Philippine sports is truly lucky to involve Lina as a major patron.