Korean team wants Tour of Luzon stint

A fourth foreign squad is set to join the Tour of Luzon when it hits the road on 24 April.

Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation president and chief operating officer Arrey Perez said South Korea’s national cycling team was interested to see action in the summer road spectacle.

So far, three teams from Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand have been included in this pedalfest that will start from Ilocos Norte and will end in Baguio City.

“There are three international teams from Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand that are interested in joining. The national team of Korea also wants to join but we will see if we can accommodate them because we already have 17 teams,” Perez said.

“When we announced the Tour of Luzon, a lot of teams wanted to join.”

Among the teams competing in the Tour of Luzon are 7Eleven Roadbike Philippines, Standard Insurance Philippines, Victoria Cycling Team and Go For Gold Cycling Team.

The winners of the eight-stage race will take home P1 million while individual champions will take home P500,000.

Duckworld PH president Patrick Gregorio hopes the Tour of Luzon will be an annual event should the staging for this year be successful.

“This is a good revival. For now, the race has a length of 1000 kilometers but who knows, by next year, we could make the race longer and have more laps,” said Gregorio, who is the president of the Philippine Rowing Association.

“This is really something to look forward to.”