MANILA -- Podium finishers in Batang Pinoy will get priority slots in the national junior cycling team that will compete in the 31st Asian Junior Road Cycling Championships in Thailand in February.

This, according to Philippine Olympic Committee Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino, also the head of PhilCycling.

The 2024 edition of Batang Pinoy features a road cycling competition with a category for 16-17 year olds, and the top finishers in that race will be invited to the national junior team.

At least one slot each in the national junior team for boys and girls in individual time trial (ITT) and individual road race (IRR or massed start) to the Asian championships will be up for grabs in the Batang Pinoy.

The ITT events are set on November 26 and the IRR on November 27 with both events featuring both the start and finish lines inside the Iwahig Penal Colony—known world-wide as the "Prison Without Walls."

Parents or guardians of participants in Batang Pinoy cycling are advised to secure passports for their athletes for the smooth processing of their registration—upon the approval of an Evaluation Committee created by the PhilCycling—for the Asian championships.

Tolentino also announced that the 2025 National Championships for Road are set February 24 to 28 in Tagaytay City and provinces in Cavite Province's Eighth District primarily Ternate and Maragondon.

For the National Championships for Road, the Criterium and ITT will still be staged around the Tagaytay City Atrium and in the Lian-Tuy national highway in Batangas, but the roads in Agoncillo, Laurel and Talisay leading to the Sampaloc or Sungay climbs will be shelved next year.

The Criterium races for the 2025 road nationals will be on February 24, ITT on February 25 and the road races for Men Junior on February 26, Men Under-23 and Women Elite on February 27 and Men Elite on February 28.

Thailand is hosting from February 7 1o 16 next year's Asian championships—organized annually by the Asian Cycling Confederation—that also includes the 44th championships for elite and under-23 and the 13th staging of the para championships.

The PhilCycling again intends to send a full contingent to the Thailand championships just like in this year's edition in Kazakhstan last June.