Ivanov wins overall title
NST, 18/2/2008
IT was sealed and the first eastern
European overall winner of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) was crowned
after the Kuala Lumpur Criterium yesterday.
It was a victory that rejuvenated the career
of Moldova's Ruslan Ivanov (pic), the most unlikely winner of
the Tour from the most successful team -- Serramenti Diquigiovanni.
Ivanov, 34, chose the post-event press conference
to thank his current team directors Gianni Savio and Marco Bellini
for saving his career two years ago when he was left without a
contract, and promised to repay the team's faith in him further
when he starts the Tirreno Adriatico in Italy next month.
"This is the start of a new career
for me and I thank Savio and Bellini for this. They gave me a
chance to restart my career with a big team and I am grateful
for that," said an emotional Ivanov.
"Also, the team's sacrifices made it
possible for me to win, most surely in the penultimate stage in
Fraser's Hill where I am sure Jose Serpa could have gone for the
stage win on his own. Instead he put the team as his priority
and helped protect my general classification (GC) position."
"This is one for the team, and I must
repay this faith in me in the rest of the season."
Serramenti Diquigiovanni maintained their
proud record in LTdL with their third ever overall victory through
Ivanov, after Hernan Dario Munoz did it for them in 2002 and Freddy
Gonzalez in 2004, when they were known as the Colombia-Selle Italia
team.
It was also the first time that they bagged
both the overall individual and team classification in the same
year, and extended their stage wins record to 15 with sprinter
Danilo Hondo taking Stage Four and Serpa bagging Stage Six of
this year's Tour.
Yesterday's Kuala Lumpur Criterium saw the
other record holders, CSF-Navigare take their record 33rd stage
win in the history of LTdL when Argentine sprinter Mauro Richeze
overcame the controversy that unfolded due to his aggressive move
on the finish line in Stage Seven that had him relegated and docked
GC time to deny Credit Agricole's Jeremy Hunt his second stage
win in this year's Tour.
The Milo green jersey for the best sprinter
was retained for keeps by Bouygues Telecom's Aurelien Clerc with
a total of 92 points, closing his unexpected battle with Malaysian
team Le Tua's Anuar Manan that had captured the imagination of
the local cycling community throughout the Tour.
Anuar can stand proud of his second place
in the points classification, having held the green jersey for
a historic two days, before surrendering it to Swiss rider Clerc.
The Genting polka dot jersey was kept by
another CSF-navigare rider Fillippo Savini, winner of Stage Eight
up Fraser's Hill on Saturday which gave his depleted team something
to smile about.
And after year's of trying, Japanese Shinichi
Fukushima of the Meitan Hompo-GDR team, finally held tight to
his Proton blue jersey as the winner of the Asian riders' classification
in the Tour.
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