DILG chief to grace Tour of Luzon opener as Guest of Honor 

MANILA, Philippines — The curtain rises on the Tour of Luzon: Great Revival on Wednesday afternoon in Paoay with no less than Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla gracing the Opening Ceremony and Team Presentation as the Guest of Honor.

Remulla will be addressing the 119-athlete, 17-team cast vying in the Tour of Luzon in the late afternoon ceremony that that will be staged with world heritage site San Agustin (Paoay) Church as an iconic backdrop.

“It will be a momentous event with the Lord’s blessing showering the whole entourage a day before The Great Revival hits the road,” said Patrick “Pató” Gregorio, chairman of organizer DuckWorld PH.

Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, president of both the Philippine Olympic Committee and the sanctioning national federation PhilCycling, will also grace the ceremony for the Tour of Luzon presented by the MVP Group’s Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) headed by its Chief Regulating Officer Arrey Perez.

Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Manotoc and Paoay Mayor Shiella Galano will be welcoming the Tour of Luzon in the ceremony that also features Bases Conversion and MPTC president Jose Ma. Lim and aired live by Cignal TV and Pilipinas Live.

All teams — except Team Pangasinan, which is due Wednesday morning — have been accounted for in Paoay, including the four foreign teams — CCN Factory HK from Hong Kong, Malaysia Pro Cycling, Bryton Racing Team from Taiwan and Gapyeong Cycling Team from South Korea — which flew in from Clark and Laoag City airports.

Already in town for a few days to acclimatize in the rising summer heat are PhilCycling-registered UCI continental teams Standard Insurance Philippines, Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team, 7-Eleven Click Roadbike Philippines and Go For Gold.

They are joined by the Philippines Under-23 Tom N Toms, Excellent Noodles, DReyna Orion Cement, Dandex T-Prime Cycling Team, Exodus Army, MPT Drive Hub Cycling Team, 1 Team Visayas and One Cycling Mindanao.

The 1,074.90-kilometer Tour of Luzon that starts Thursday (April 24) with the 190.70-km Paoay-Paoay Stage 1, 68.39-km Paoay-Vigan team time trial Stage 2, 130.33-km Vigan-San Juan Stage 3, 162.97-km Agoo-Clark Stage 4, 166.65 Clark-Clark (via New Clark City) Stage 5, 168.19 Clark-Lingayen Stage 6, 15.14-km individual time trial Labrador-Lingayen Stage 7 and finally the queen Stage 8 which is a 172.53-km from Lingayen to the Scout Hill finish inside Camp John Hay in Baguio City.