Hard days ahead for sprinters
NST, 11/2/2008
THE big line-up of sprinters in
Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) this time around must be aching for
a bunch sprint but thus far nothing has worked.
Even Le Tua’s promising darkhorse
Anuar Manan cannot help but have his team look at other options.
Le Tua had parked new Australian signing
Bernard Sulzberger in an inviting position in the overall general
classification (GC) which has Malaysia’s top team thinking
of bigger possibilities, without moving too far away from their
initial targets of going for stage wins.
Sulzberger is a surprising fourth in the
GC, just six seconds behind leader Mattieu Sprick of Bouygues
Telecom.
“It has been quite frustrating, but
also when we look at the situation, we’ve had no choice.
It looks like the attacks are going to be a daily affair and whenever
the group is all together, we have to try and do something for
a result,” said Anuar.
“We’re also cautious because
Bernard is in a very good position, so the team cannot risk too
much in case there comes a time when we need to pool together
and work for him to get something.”
It seemed the big bunch sprint, where 22-year-old
Anuar would have the chance to go up against the big guns like
Tinkoff’s Alberto Loddo, Serramenti Diquigiovanni’s
Danilo Hondo and Bouygues Telecom’s Aurelien Clerc, was
destined to happen yesterday until a 10-man break went away in
the final five kilometres.
“We were waiting for the bunch sprint,
but again it didn’t happen. So, there was no need to go
full blast under such circumstances.
“We worked for Bernard in the intermediate
sprints, to get points for him and to get the time bonuses to
cut the lead.”
Sulzberger shares second spot in the points
classification on 20 points with Drapac-Porsche’s Mitchell
Docker, while new leader Gustavo Cesar of the Karpin-Galicia team
is two points ahead, giving the team a good shot at wresting that
jersey over the next few stages as well.
“What is good is that the
whole team is still fresh. We feel that we had not wasted much
energy doing unecessary things,” said Anuar.
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