Tour’s summer run shelved due to cycling row

The Tour, called in recent years as Padyak Pinoy, will not be hitting the road this summer.

This after Bert Lina, who is credited for the Tour’s revival in 2002, was dragged into the controversy bordering on alleged anomalous acquisition and distribution of equipment and gear, which the national cycling team used in the 2007 Thailand Southeast Asian Games.

“Until all these have been settled and cleared would I be considering bringing the Padyak Pinoy back on the road,” said Lina. “For the meantime, there will be no Tour or Padyak Pinoy.”

Lina is the president of the PhilCycling, the national association for the sport, and is the owner of Air21, the principal sponsor of the Tour, until Tanduay joined in as major backer in 2005. Under Lina’s efforts, the Tour approximated the Tour’s stature when it was sponsored by Philip Morris Phils. through Marlboro.

Philip Morris stopped sponsoring the Tour after 22 years in 1998 because of restrictions in tobacco advertising, but four years later, Lina saw the need to bring the fabled race back on the road and tested the waters with the four-day FedEx Tour of Calabarzon.

In 2003, the Tour went 15 stages all over Luzon from Bicol. In 2004, the Tour was all of 18 stages also all over Luzon. And in 2005 until 2007, the Tour went eight- or 10-stage editions to conform to Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) format for multi-stage road races.

About a dozen cyclists, most of them members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), sought the ouster of their head coach Jomel Lorenzo. But Lorenzo was retained by the PhilCycling because of his performance and pending the resolution of the case by an appropriate body.