The two Asian countries join Singapore in fielding their best cyclists in the multi-stage Tour of Luzon, set to kick off in a month.
The competition just got tougher in the upcoming Tour of Luzon 2025.
Aside from Singapore, teams from South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand expressed their intention to join the revived multi-stage cycling race.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) COO and race organizer Arrey Perez revealed the development in an interview on One PH's Power and Play with Noli Eala, Saturday, March 15.
Perez said South Korea expressed the intention of their national team to participate in the competition, joining Singapore in the field. Thailand and Vietnam also bared the readiness of some clubs to join the multi-stage race set from April 24-May 1.
[ALSO READ: The Great Revival: The Tour of Luzon comes back with eight-stage competition]
Since its inception in 1955, eight foreigners ruled the event — including seven of its last eleven editions while the race was still named “Le Tour de Pilipinas.”
Wong Kam-po of Hong Kong is the first international cyclist to conquer the event in 1997. Other notable winners include Ireland’s David McCann (2010), Iran’s Rahim Emami (2011), and Ghader Mizbani (2013), France’s Thomas Lebas (2015), Kazakhstan’s Oleg Zemlyakov (2016), Australia’s Jai Crawford (2017), and Netherlands' Jeroen Meijers (2019).
Under a new set of organizers led by PBA chairman Pato Gregorio and the MPTC, the Tour of Luzon 2025 makes its much-anticipated return for the first time in five years.
From the Ilocos region all the way to some provinces in Central Luzon and back up north, the 170-km route will see seasoned and up-and-coming riders inside and outside the country.