MANILA -- The Department of the Interior and Local Government has instructed relevant local government units (LGUs) to ensure the "orderly and peaceful conduct" of the Tour of Luzon, which starts on Thursday.

In a memorandum, DILG secretary Jonvic Remulla hailed the revival of the multi-stage cycling race that is expected to showcase various sections of Luzon.

According to Remulla, the race "can foster sports consciousness capable of promoting camaraderie and the spirit of competitiveness among our people."

"All local government units and their officials are hereby enjoined to ensure the orderly and peaceful conduct of the event," he added.

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The LGUs involved in the race are thus required to make sure that their basic services and deliverables are not hampered; that the safety of everyone should be guaranteed; and that accessible and adequate alternative routes should be identified and properly disseminated to the public.

"We are grateful for this support from Secretary Jonvic because the Tour of Luzon isn't just about cycling and sports, the LGUs are very much involved in this event," said Pato Gregorio, chairman of organizer DuckWorld PH.

Remulla is expected to grace the opening ceremony of the Tour of Luzon, along with Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino, the head of both the Philippine Olympic Committee and PhilCycling.

Presented by the MVP Group's Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. headed by Chief Regulatory Officer Arrey Perez, the Tour's executive director, the individual overall winner will bring home P500,000 with the overall team champion banking P1 million.

The Tour will cover at least 60 cities and municipalities in seven provinces in North and Central Luzon—Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac and Pampanga with special fly by at the New Clark City where an Executive Race will be staged in an out-and-back route in Clark on April 27.

Seventeen teams consisting of 119 riders are seeing action in the Tour also powered by the MVP Group's Meralco, Metro Pacific Investment Corporation, Maynilad, Smart, PLDT, Landco Pacific Corporation and mWELL and Megaworld.

The 1,074.90-kilometer Tour of Luzon that starts on April 24 with the 190.70-km Paoay-Paoay Stage 1, 68.39-km Paoay-Vigan team time trial Stage 2, 130.33-km Vigan-San Juan Stage 3, 162.97-km Agoo-Clark Stage 4, 166.65 Clark-Clark (via New Clark City) Stage 5, 168.19 Clark-Lingayen Stage 6, 15.14-km individual time trial Labrador-Lingayen Stage 7 and finally the queen Stage 8 which is a 172.53-km from Lingayen to the Scout Hill finish inside Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

The teams are: 7-Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines, Standard Insurance Philippines, Go For Gold Philippines, Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team, Philippines Under-23-Tom N Toms Coffee, Excellent Noodles, DReyna Orion Cement, Dandez T-Prime Cycling Team, Exodus Army, MPT Drive Hub Cycling Team, 1 Team Visayas, One Cycling Mindanao and Team Pangasinan.

Foreign teams CCN Factory HK from Hong Kong, Malaysia Pro Cycling, Bryton Racing Team from Taiwan and Gapyeong Cycling Team from South Korea are also seeing action.