2 Iranian ex-champs vie in Le Tour

MANILA, Philippines - A vaunted Iranian contingent, led by two former champions and powered by Asia’s No. 1, are vying in the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas that kicks off in two weeks in Bataan.

Rahim Emami, the 2011 champion now racing for Pishgaman Yzad Pro Cycling Team, and 2013 winner Ghader Mizbani are hell bent at regaining the crown in the four-stage International Cycling Union (UCI) Asia Tour race presented by Air21 and co-presented by the MVP Sports Foundation and Smart.

Making the Iranian delegation looking even more invincible – and making Mark Galedo’s  title-retention bid more difficult – is the presence of Mirsamad Poorseyediholakhour, Mizbani’s teammate at Tabriz Petrochemical Team who wound up No. 1 in the Asia Tour ranking in 2014.

Mizbani is ranked No. 6 and Emami No. 9, while the Phl’s Galedo is No. 67, the best-placed Filipino, on the UCI Asia Tour ranking.

The sixth edition of the Le Tour is the first for 2015 on the UCI’s Asia Tour calendar. The race, marking 60 years of multi-stage road racing in the country, kicks off Feb. 1 with the 126-km Balanga-Balanga (Bataan) Stage One, followed by the 153.75-km Balanga-Iba (Zambales) Stage Two, 149.34-km Iba-Lingayen (Pangasinan) Stage Three and the 101-km Lingayen-Baguio City Stage Four.

Fifteen teams – 13 continental and two national teams – are again on the roster of the Le Tour which is organized by Ube Media headed by Donna Lina-Flavier with Victory Liner, San Mig Zero, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Phils. and Canon as major sponsors.

Besides the two Iranian teams, the other squads are newcomers the US’s Team Novo Nordisk – the first professional cycling team composed of riders with Type 1 Diabetes – Taiwan’s RTS Santic Racing Team and Attaque Team Gusto, Thailand’s Singha Infinite Cycling Team and the Kazakhstan National Team.

Returning to the race which has Isuzu, MAN Truck and Bus, Viking Rent-A-Car and NLEX as road partners are the Navitas Satalyst Racing Team of Australia, CCN Cycling Team of Brunei, Pegasus Continental Cycling Team of Indonesia, Uzbekistan National Team, Terengganu Cycling Team of Malaysia, Bridgestone Anchor Cycling Team of Japan, Team 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines and the Phl team.