Head start up for grabs as Tour is flagged off in Calatagan
CALATAGAN, Batangas—From last year’s “great revival” comes the lung-busting sequel of the MPTC Tour of Luzon as 89 local and foreign riders begin their odyssey of speed and endurance on Wednesday in this municipal town.
Defending champion Joo Dae-yeong and popular local bets in Jonel Carcueva, Mervin Corpuz and Ronald Oranza hope to set the tone for this 14-lap bikathon that flags off 9 a.m. at CaSoBē Resort and ending at the landmark Praying Hands in Tagaytay City.
The opening stage will cover 150.1 kilometers going to Balayan and Calasa followed by two King of the Mountain stages in Nasugbu, with the winner to be the first to wear the symbolic yellow jersey given to the overall leader.
Whoever ends up crossing the line first hopes to don that color until the end of the summer cycling spectacle that traces its roots back in 1955 when it started as a novelty for delivery boys from the country’s leading newspapers at the time.
A total pot of P12 million is going to be handed out during the course of this derby on wheels, with P1 million going to the individual champion and P2 million to the team champion.
Meanwhile, P350,000 will be given to the Eagle of the Mountain, which is a homage to the late great 1979 Marlboro Tour winner Paquito Rivas, P300,000 to the Sprint King and P200,000 to the best young rider after the Tour.
Close win last year
Hoping for a repeat is South Korea’s Joo, who won the eight-stage return by only six seconds. The Gapyeong Cycling Team rider held the lead after taking the first leg, but almost saw his hard work go to waste when he incurred a punctured tire during the last lap ascent toward Baguio.
But Joo somehow found a way to claim the title over veteran Jan Paul Morales, earning him the nickname the “Korean Heartbreaker.”
“I might be more of a follower this year so I’m not so sure,” Joo said through an interpreter, when asked of his chances in the race that ends on May 13 in the City of Pines.
Joo not only held off Morales, who won’t be around this year, but also Carcueva and Corpuz, who have switched sides from team classification champion MPT DriveHub to 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines.
Carcueva placed third last year while Corpuz is expected to enter the race with a chip on his shoulder after spending most of the 2025 Tour chasing Joo.
Corpuz, one of the popular names among local cycling enthusiasts, faded in the last stage during the Kennon Road climb, and wound up taking 38th overall. Corpuz would settle for the Sprint King award.
Despite losing Carcueva and Corpuz, MPT DriveHub still has Rustom Lim, a top 10 finisher in the general classification tally. Oranza settled for ninth, but will be looking to put himself in title consideration for Standard Insurance Philippines while Jericho Jay Lucero of Go for Gold Philippines placed seventh.
Joseph Javiniar of Excellent Noodles topped Stage 5 that ended in Clark, Pampanga while another vet in El Joshua Cariño rides for Team Pangasinan. Other local teams are CCN Factory Racing and Dreyna Orion Cement.
Gapyeong is one of two South Korean teams competing here, the other being the Seoul Cycling Team. Other foreign squads are the Malaysian national team, China’s Shenzhen Kung, Indonesia’s Ponti Wijaya and LCW of the United Arab Emirates.
