Culey draws first blood in LTdL
TEAM Sapura Cycling’s Marcus Culey of Australia started his Le Tour de Langkawi campaign by winning the opening stage from Kuala Lumpur to Tampin yesterday.
Zawawi Azman emerged as the standout Malaysian rider in the opening stage of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL), completing an impressive day for Team Sapura Cycling (TSC) yesterday.
Zawawi did well to end the stage in 19th place in the main group which crossed the line in Tampin five seconds adrift of stage winner Marcus Culey, who is also a TSC rider.
In addition to being the top Malaysian rider for the day, Zawawi was the third Asian rider to cross the line in the opening stage.
The 25-year-old said he anticipated a tough opening stage with four categorised climbs in the mix yesterday.
“The first day is always tough. All the guys went out quite aggressively to position themselves well for the rest of the tour,” said Zawawi.
“The route was also quite tough with a lot of short climbs. But it was a good day for us, everything went to plan, we reached our target and have control of the yellow jersey (via Culey).
Meanwhile, Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) coach Jeremy Hunt is not worried after a tough opening day for his team.
TSG’s Eyob Metkel and Artem Ovechkin, who is also the defending champion, finished the day in the main group thus keeping their general classification (GC) hopes alive.
TSG’s Nur Amirul Fakhruddin Mazuki, as well as sprinters Harrif and Zamri Saleh (all +18:07s) and Algerian Youcef Reguigui (+16:29s), were all some way off the pace.
“It was a four-man breakaway, so usually it is okay but we knew we had to chase when the gap grew bigger,” said Hunt.
“Luckily it all came back together and we have two guys in the front group (Eyob and Ovechkin).
“It is fine because at Genting Highlands (stage four) the gap (among front runners) would likely be larger.
“Harrif and Zamri were with the other sprinters today (at the back) and I think they will be fine for the later stages. Hopefully, it will be a sprint finish tomorrow (today) and we will try and get Harrif up there.”
LTdL stage win record holder Andrea Guardini was also in the same group as Harrif, Zamri and Amirul as many sprinters decided to conserve their energy for more sprinter-friendly stages in the tour.