"Because the Tour is undoubtedly a Philippine tradition for more than half a century, we at Dos-1 feel Padyak Pinoy as theme would make it even more Filipino," said Dos-1 president Gary Cayton.

The Tour carried the theme "Golden Tour" when Dos-1 organized it last year. The fabled multistage cycling event celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

The Tour will again be a 10-stage event spread over 11 days this summer. The race, which will again be supervised by the Philippine National Cycling Association headed by former Eagle of the Mountain Paquito Rivas and sanctioned by the PhilCycling, will cover more than 1,700 kms in Luzon with stops in at least seven key cities.

Stage one will be from Quezon City to Cabanatuan on April 20, followed by the Cabanatuan-Olongapo stage two on April 21, the Olongapo-Dagupan stage three on April 22, the Dagupan-Vigan stage four on April 23 and the Vigan-Baguio stage five on April 24.

April 25 will be a rest day for the 80 cyclists who will be vying for more than R4 million in total prizes, after which the dreaded Baguio-Baguio stage six will take place.

After the Baguio-Baguio, it will be the Baguio-Angeles City stage seven on April 27. The cyclists, who will be divided into 10 teams carrying commercial colors, will be transferred to Tagaytay City, now considered the country’s cycling capital, for the Tagaytay-Tagaytay stage eight on April 28.

Stages one to eight are all massed start races. On April 29, the riders will trace the same individual time trial route that was used in last December’s 23rd Southeast Asian Games and on April 30, the surviving cyclists will vie in the 10th and final stage in Manila for the criterium race.

Warren Davadilla, one of only seven riders who have won the Tour twice, will be back to defend his title. Davadilla, who is currently in Lipa City for his regular basic military training in Lipa City, won the 1998 edition when the Tour went international. A doubtful starter though is 2004 champion Rhyan Tanguilig who flew recently to Dubai to work in a computer company. Tanguilig, however, send word he would return home to compete in the Tour. He brought his bicycle with him in Dubai.