THE podium finishers in the 16-17 years old category of the road cycling competitions of the 2024 Batang Pinoy that starts this weekend in Puerto Princesa City will get priority slots on the national junior team to the 31st Asian Junior Road Cycling Championships in Thailand in February.

Philippine Olympic Committee Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, head of the national federation for cycling PhilCycling, also announced on Sunday that the 2025 National Championships for Road is set February 24 to 28 in Tagaytay City and provinces in Cavite Province’s Eighth District primarily Ternate and Maragondon.

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.

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

Criterium is not in the Asian championships program.

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 dor Men Junior on February 26, Men Under-23 and Women Elite on February 27 and Men Elite on February 28.