THE national cycling federation urged members of the national road team to compete for “flag and country” in the Le Tour de Filipinas, an International Cycling Union (UCI) race calendared on the Asia Tour.
Failure to do so, according to PhilCycling Secretary General Atty. Avelino Sumagui, will result to the cancelation of both the cyclists’ status as national athletes and their UCI licenses.
The Le Tour de Filipinas, a four-stage race set February 18 to 21 in Southern Luzon and the only UCI-sanctioned road race in the country, ranks high on the PhilCycling’s list of priority races.
Like all other races on the Asia Tour, the Le Tour de Filipinas offers UCI points which a cyclist needs to qualify for the World Championships, World Cup and the Olympics.
Several national team members riding for club teams declared their refusal to race in the Le Tour in favor of the Ronda Pilipinas, a domestic road race set from February 4 to March 4.
The riders claimed the prize money in the Le Tour de Pilipinas—which the UCI officially pegs at close to P1 million total—pales in comparison to the Ronda Pilipinas—which staked P1 million to the champion alone.
“This has become a ‘bad habit’ of our cyclists, racing for money and not for flag and country,” Sumagui said. “This has to stop because the national cyclists have an obligation to the country, and as national team members, they get paid by government with allowances and other perks needed for their training.”
“This practice has demoralized our team and the coaches since what is left with the Philippine Team joining the Le Tour are not the best in our pool,” Sumagui stressed.
He admitted the conflict with the schedule of the two races are forcing the cyclists to make a choice. “Unfortunately, these two races always collide despite our plea for Ronda to change their race dates. We are obligated to field our team with the Le Tour considering it is a UCI race,” Sumagui said.
The UCI dictates the schedule of the Le Tour de Filipinas to conform with the Asia Tour calendar, while the Ronda Pilipinas, being a domestic race, chooses its own race dates.