The 2019 edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) that took place from April 6th to 13th saw local teams and national riders excel in the absence of world professional tour teams.
The most outstanding was Team Sapura Cycling (TSC), in which star cyclist Benjamin Dyball succeeded in seizing the yellow jersey from Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) rider Artem Ovechkin, last year's winner, to become the LTdL overall champion.
TSC (87:55:28s) also emerged as the second best overall team, only 1:08s behind winners Floyd's Pro Cycling (87:54:20s) of Canada after going through eight stages over 1225.8km.
It was indeed a proud achievement for the two-year-old local team at the 2.HC road tour, which saw the participation of 132 riders from 22 local and international teams.
TSC local rider Zawawi Azman (29:21:41s) came out as the best Malaysian rider when he finished 23rd in the overall standings and the fourth best Asian rider, followed by national cyclist Nik Azwan Zulkifle (28th) and team-mate Nur Aiman Zariff (33rd).
"The success is attributed to our hard work. Because when we lost, we held a post-mortem to address our weaknesses. TSC intends to join the European Tour which is even more competitive," said team manager Sayuti Zahit.
Meanwhile, TSG, who finished 13th last year, galloped up four spots to ninth in 88:21:38s this year and saw Harrif Saleh win the second stage, from Senawang to Melaka, to become the second Malaysian to bag a stage after Anuar Manan in 2010.
The 30-year-old rider was third behind team-mate Youcef Reguigui (second) in the sixth stage from Bagan to Alor Setar.
"The route this year was challenging especially in the fourth stage to Genting Highlands. I was satisfied because I managed to finally win one stage after riding the LTdL for 10 years... this proves I am not just a 'kampung' champion and only good to compete at the SEA Games.
"I have proven Malaysian riders are capable of competing with sprint specialists in the championship such as Matteo Pelucchi (Androni-Giocattoli Sidermec) and Travis McCabe (Floyd's Pro Cycling), who are big names in the cycling world," he said.
The national team also did well by recording their second best result since LTdL was established in 1996 when it took the 11th position out of 22 teams and emerged as the second best in Asia.
One of their riders, Sofian Nabil Omar Bakri, also won the white jersey (Best Asian Rider) in stage three from Muar to Putrajaya before finishing in the 41st spot on the overall and 11th in Asia.
In terms of organisation, event organiser Human Voyage Sdn Bhd succeeded in implementing the task well to hold the world class event within a short time, about one and a half months after receiving the confirmation from UCI.
The return of Genting Highlands (after 2014) and Langkawi island (since 2015) added more excitement and challenges to the tour.
There were some weaknesses that should be addressed such as logistics management, fuel supply for personnel as well as movement to Langkawi via ferry from Kuala Kedah's jetty.
Nonetheless, Human Voyage Sdn Bhd chief executive officer, Datuk Ahmad Mustafa said the company, which has a three-year contract on the largest cycling tour in Asia, would make the 2020 race even grander to celebrate LTdL's 25th anniversary.
"Among others, we hope to hold the tour earlier in February after the Tour Down Under in Australia to attract more Pro Tour teams.
"We are also planning to include Sabah and Sarawak as proposed by the Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, but we may need to extend the tour to 10 days and we need to the approval of UCI for extending the tour," he said.
Bernama
Tue Apr 16 2019
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