Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) president Pat McQuaid personally wished the country the best of luck even as he expressed his confidence that the Le Tour de Filipinas (Tour of the Philippines) presented by Tanduay and co-presented by Smart and Air21 will be staged successfully from April 17 to 20.

“I am particularly happy to greet you all [Filipinos] because I personally have always felt a strong attachment to the Tour of the Philippines,” said McQuaid in his message to the organizer, the Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. (Dos-1).

“I in fact had the pleasure and privilege of working for the organizing committee for a few years and I was able to discover both the beauty of this magnificent country, the extraordinary hospitality of all the people that I met, as well as the great enthusiasm which is generated at each stage of this race, and the remarkable potential that cycling has in this country,” McQuaid added.

McQuaid was in the country for about five years beginning in 1995 to help Philip Morris Phils. organize the International Marlboro Tour.

McQuaid was then the Road Commission chairman of the UCI, which was then headed by Hein Verbruggen.

While in the Philippines, McQuaid and his UCI team of European cycling experts were able to tour the countryside – Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. He had learned to love the country that he preferred to ride jeepneys and tricycles and mingled with country folks, even taking his meals in “carinderias” and snacks in sari-sari stores.

The Le Tour de Filipinas, a UCI-sanctioned race that is part of the Asia Tour calendar, will kick off with the Tagaytay-Tagaytay Stage 1 on April 17, the Roxas Boulevard Stage 2 circuit race on April 18, the Quezon City-Subic (via NLEX-SCETEX) Stage 3 on April 19 and the Subic-Subic Stage 4 on April 20. All four stages start at 9 a.m.

Ten local and seven foreign teams composed of seven riders each are vying in the Category 2.2 UCI race that offers as much as P84,000 to the winner of each stage. The stage prizes are scaled down to the 20th placer.