Tough mountain stage to decide Le Tour champ

MANILA, Philippines - The aggressive sprinters’ mettle will be put to a tough test early in the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas while the climbers get to do what they do best in Stage Four that finishes atop the Cordilleras in Baguio City.

The sixth edition of the Le Tour de Filipinas presented by Air21 and co-presented by the MVP Sports Foundation and Smart is marked with seven intermediate sprints spread in all four stages.

And although there will be only four mountain primes – King of the Mountain (KOM) – the climbers will have the final say when the four-stage race culminates in front of the Baguio City Convention Center.

With a total distance of 532.50 kms, the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas, which celebrates 60 years of multi-stage road cycling in the country, is expected to be a fast race, according to race manager Paquito Rivas.

“It will be a fast race with average speeds of no less than 40 kph,” said Rivas, the 1979 Tour champion more popularly known as the Eagle of the Mountain.

The race starts on Sunday with the 126-km Balanga-Balanga (Bataan) Stage One, followed by the 153.75-km Balanga-Iba (Zambales) Stage Two, 149.34-km Iba-Lingayen (Pangasinan) Stage Three and the 101-km Lingayen-Baguio City Stage Four.

For the first time in four years, the Le Tour will climb toward the country’s Summer Capital via Kennon Road.

Fifteen teams are entered in the Union Cycliste International-calendared race. They are continental teams Team Novo Nordisk (USA), RTS Santic Racing Team (Taiwan), Attaque Team Gusto (Taiwan), Singha Infinite Cycling Team (Thailand), Navitas Satalyst Racing Team (Australia), CCN Cycling Team (Brunei), Pegasus Continental Cycling Team (Indonesia), Terengganu Cycling Team (Malaysia), Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team (Japan), Pishgaman Yzad Pro Cycling Team (Iran), Tabriz Petrochemical Team (Iran) and 7-Eleven-Road Bike Philippines.

There are three national teams—Philippine PhilCycling Team, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.