30 nations represented in
the 150-man field for LTdL 2008
30/1/2008
SHAH ALAM – Datuk Naim Mohamad,
Chief Operating officer, Le Tour de Langkawi 2008 announces today
that A record number of 30 different nationalities will form the
field for Le Tour de Langkawi this year. The race will start in
Alor Setar, on February 9 and will end up with the traditional
criterium at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on February 17.
According to the provisional start list
of 150 riders, Malaysia will have the highest number of participants
with 18, followed closely by Australia with 17, then Japan with
12, Italy with 10, France and Germany with 9 each.
The other nations with cyclists involved
are New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Iran, South Africa, Indonesia,
Spain, Russia, Colombia, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, China, Mexico,
Argentina, Belarus, Venezuela, Taiwan, Ireland, Great-Britain,
Moldavia, Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium and the USA.
The 25 teams on the start line will be:
Crédit Agricole, Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli,
South Africa, Giant-Asia, Tinkoff, Skil-Shimano, Bouygues Telecom,
Ag2r-La Mondiale, CSF Group-Navigare, Karpin-Galicia, Team Type
1, NGC Medical-OTC Industria Porte, Gerolsteiner-Ista, Southaustralia.com-AIS,
Meitan Hompo-GDR, Trek-Marco Polo, Azad University, LeTua, Polygon-Sweet
Nice, Seoul Cycling Team, Malaysia Continental, Drapac-Porsche,
New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia.
A spectacular race with numerous bunch sprints,
the Le Tour de Langkawi will feature some of the fastest men in
the world of cycling; Italy’s Alberto Loddo, who won five
stages last year and now rides for Tinkoff, Danilo Hondo from
Germany, who is a new signing for Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni
Giocattoli, British veteran Jeremy Hunt, now backed by Crédit
Agricole, Aurélien Clerc of Switzerland with Bouygues Telecom,
Alexandre Usov from Belarus with Ag2r-La Mondiale, CSF’s
Ruben Bongiorno from Argentina, Japan’s Takahashi Miyazawa
with Meitan Hompo-GDR, Russia’s Sergey Kudentsov from Trek-Marco
Polo, Australian U23 champion Simon Clarke, South Africa’s
Nolan Hoffman, Seoul’s Park Sung Baek and Malaysia’s
cycling star Anuar Manuar who rides for LeTua Cycling Team.
The replacement of the traditional climb
up to Genting Highlands by Fraser’s Hill opens the final
victory to more contenders than ever. South American climbers
remain the main favorites with Colombia’s José Serpa,
who has won Genting Highlands twice in two participations her.
The duel is very promising with his compatriot
Walter Pedraza, who just switched from Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
to Tinkoff where he’ll pair with Russian up-and-coming all
rounder Pavel Brutt who opened the history of his team on the
world cycling scene when he won a very difficult stage 9 to Seremban
last year.
Simon Gerrans and Nicholas Roche (Crédit
Agricole), Ian McLeod and David George (South Africa), Johann
Tschopp (Bouygues Telecom), Stijn Vandenbergh (Ag2r), Julio Alberto
Perez Cuapio (CSF), Matt Wilson (Team Type 1), Wesley Sulzberger
(Southaustralia.com), Yukiya Arashiro (Meitan Hompo-GDR) and Jai
Crawford (Trek-Marco Polo) are among the other potential overall
winners.
Meanwhile, Proton, one of the loyal supporters
of the Le Tour de Langkawi, once again pledged their commitment
to the event this year. LTdL 2008 COO Datuk Naim Mohamed and Proton
Managing Director, YBhg Dato’ Hj Syed Zainal Abidin Syed
Mohamed Tahir, attended today’s official launch.
A total of 25 teams will compete in the
13th edition of the prestigious LTdL. With the increased participation
and the return of the Pro Tour teams, combined with the support
of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, who are the main organizers
for the event next year, the LTdL 2008 is set to be the best ever
since its inception in 1996.
The Tour is also sanctioned by the Malaysian
National Cycling Federation (MNCF), the Union Cycliste Internationale
(UCI) and the Asian Cycling Confederation.
One of the major differences in the Tour
is the idea of taking it closer to the people. To achieve this,
more events will be organised on the ground which means more carnival-like
activities at all start and finish venues. One of the side events
to be included will be cycling clinics.
One of the priorities for the Tour
is to promote cycling at the grass root level. This will be done
via the Rukun Tetangga and Kampung Baru programmes. One of the
other key messages will be to encourage more Malaysians to take
up cycling as a means to a healthier lifestyle.
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