Tour De Filipinas

The MPTC Tour of Luzon (TOL; under sponsorship by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation) is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Luzon, Philippines since 1955 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It is held in April every year. While the course changes every year, the tour traditionally ends at Rizal Park, Manila, although recently the tour has ended in Baguio after being licensed by the UCI. Established as the Tour of Luzon, the stage race was previously known under various names including the Marlboro Tour, Tour of Calabarzon, Tour Pilipinas and Padyak Pinoy, and Le Tour de Filipinas.

The current iteration is organized by Duckworld PH and is sanctioned by the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling).

History

1955 – 1976: Tour of Luzon

In 1955, the Tour was launched as a four-stage race from Manila to Vigan race won by Antonio Arzala. But, a year later, the race was renamed as the Tour of Luzon and carried the name until 1976 (there was no tour held in 1968, 1970–1972).

The prominent riders included two-time Tour champions Cornelio Padilla, Jr. of Central Luzon and Jose Sumalde of Bicol. However, in 1977, a rift within the PCAP (see below) led to a split of two tours during the said year. However, according to the Padyak Pinoy website, the event organized by Geruncio Lacuesta is recognized on their official list. The tour's name ended by 1978 as Marlboro entered the scene.

1979 – 1998: Marlboro Tour

By 1979, Philip Morris became the official sponsor of the tour and the event was named as Marlboro Tour after its cigarette brand Marlboro, a name that is commonly familiar to ardent racers and fans. During these times, the tour expanded its routes, by including cities from Visayas in the leg, with the final laps regularly held at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

From 1997-1998, the tour allowed riders from Asia to compete in the event and was sanctioned by the UCI. It also led to Wong Kam-po of Hong Kong to become the first non-Filipino to win the event in 1997, after overtaking 1996 winner Victor Espiritu for the lead in the latter stages.

The format used for the teams are based on provinces with the national team included in the race. It was also the same format when Asian riders participated in the event beginning in 1997.

The 1998 tour was known as the Marlboro Centennial Tour an was organized in line with the Philippine Centennial observances.

In 1999, Marlboro backed out as sponsor following a trend of discouraging tobacco sponsorship of sports events. In 2000, a race under the name Millenium Tour was attempted to be held in May but was cancelled due to budgetary concerns and inability to meet the standards set by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

2002 – 2007: Revival

In 2002, the tour was revived after Airfreight 2100 of Bert Lina and Lito Alvarez financed the tour. A four-leg race was held in late-May known as Tour of CALABARZON won by Santy Barnachea. A year later, the tour was renamed as Tour Pilipinas, and held a 17-leg race, the longest since 1998. The tour was won by Arnel Quirimit of Pangasinan.

Ryan Tanguilig won in 2004 in a 10-stage tour. In 2005, the tour was renamed as the Golden Tour 50 @ 05, honoring the 50th anniversary of the Tour. 1998 champion Warren Davadilla, who won the last edition of the Marlboro, was the champion. In 2006, several disputes within the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines led to a short eight stage event dubbed with the Padyak Pinoy name, won by Barnachea.

2009 – 2019: Le Tour de Filipinas

The Padyak Pinoy Tour of Champions was held in 2009. This race was later retroactively designated as the first Le Tour de Filipinas (LTdF)

The first race to be actually be called as the Le Tour de Filipinas was the 2010 race. The event was also reincluded in the UCI Asia Tour. It was last included in the UCI calendar 12 years ago when it was still known as the Marlboro Tour. The Le Tour de Filipinas was still backed by Alberto Lina.

The tour was held annually continuously until 2019. The 2020 iteration considered by its organizers as the 11th LTdF was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2025 – present: Return of the Tour of Luzon

The tour was returned in 2025 under its old name Tour of Luzon. This was due to the partnership of Duckworld PH with the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC).

The event dubbed as The Great Revival started on April 24 and will end on May 1, 2025. It is an eight-stage race starting from Laoag and ends in Baguio. The organizers aim to have Tour de Luzon reincluded in the UCI calendar.

Stages

Marlboro Tour days

These were the stages in 1996:

# Davao City to Carmen, Davao del Norte
# Tagum, Davao del Norte to Butuan
# Butuan to Cagayan de Oro
# Cebu City to Cebu City (individual time trial)
# Cebu City to Cebu City via Santander
# Dumaguete to Bacolod
# Iloilo City to Iloilo City via Pototan, Iloilo (team time trial)
# Iloilo City to Iloilo City via San Jose de Buenavista, Antique
# Pasay to Lucena
# Lucena to Marikina
# Marikina to Olongapo
# Olongapo to Alaminos, Pangasinan
# Alaminos, Pangasinan to San Jose, Nueva Ecija
# San Jose, Nueva Ecija to Banaue, Ifugao
# Banaue, Ifugao to Tuguegarao, Cagayan
# Tuguegarao, Cagayan to Vigan, Ilocos Sur
# Vigan, Ilocos Sur to Baguio
# Rosario, La Union to Baguio (individual time trial)
# Baguio to Baguio

Le Tour de Filipinas days

These were the stages in 2019:

# Tagaytay, Cavite to Tagaytay, Cavite via Lemery, Batangas
# Pagbilao, Quezon to Daet, Camarines Norte
# Daet, Camarines Norte to Legazpi, Albay
# Legazpi, Albay to Legazpi, Albay via Sorsogon City
# Legazpi, Albay to Legazpi, Albay via Donsol, Sorsogon

Tour of Luzon days

These were stages in the 2025 revival:

# Paoay, Ilocos Norte to Paoay, Ilocos Norte
# Paoay, Ilocos Norte to Vigan, Ilocos Sur (individual time trial)
# Vigan, Ilocos Sur to San Juan, La Union
# Agoo. La Union to Angeles City
# Mabalacat, Pampanga to Mabalacat, Pampanga
# Mabalacat, Pampanga to Lingayen, Pangasinan
# Lingayen, Pangasinan to Labrador, Pangasinan
# Lingayen, Pangasinan to Baguio

Past winners

Tour of Luzon

Tour of the Philippines

Marlboro Tour

FedEx/Air21 Tour / Padyak Pinoy

Le Tour de Pilipinas

In the 2016 edition, race organizers had to stop the stage 1 event due to unprecedented road repairs, followed by traffic jams in Tiaong, Quezon, the first in the history of Le Tour de Filipinas.

Tour of Luzon

Jerseys

Like other bicycle rices, the Tour also hands out specific jerseys:

* Yellow: General classification
* Purple: Best Filipino rider
* Green: Best sprinter
* Red polka dot: Best climber
* White: Young rider

Notes

References

External links

*
* {{Cycling archives race, 9129

Statistics
at ''the-sports.org''

Le Tour de Filipinas
at ''cqranking.com''

Cycle races in the Philippines
T
Recurring sporting events established in 1955
1955 establishments in the Philippines