TSG’s overall title hopes take a beating
AFTER the euphoria of having two riders on the podium in Stage Three, the Terengganu Cycling Team’s (TSG) hopes of winning the overall Tour of Peninsular (ToP) title suffered a major blow yesterday.
TSG’s Nur Amirull Fakhruddin Mazuki, who took charge of the yellow jersey after unexpectedly winning Stage Three on Thursday, failed to make an impact in Stage Four, described as the queen stage, as he is not a climber.
Two of the team’s riders — Metkel Eyob (Eritrea) and Artem Ovechkin (Russia) — were expected to challenge in Cameron Highlands but could only finish sixth (+3:12s) and 19th (+4:40s).
Amirull, who finished the stage in 68th spot (+13:32s), admitted that it just wasn’t their day.
TSG sprinter Harrif Saleh, who notched two podium finishes earlier in the tour, did not finish Stage Four as he was suffering from diarrhoea and has withdrawn from the event.
“The target today (yesterday) was to work for Artem and Metkel and hopefully have them fight it out in the first group,” said Amirull.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t possible. We then sent Goh Choon Huat and Shahrul Mat Amin up the road to try and win it, but we fell a little bit short. Overall, it was a tough day as we were up against strong riders.”
Singaporean Choon Huat did relatively well to finish ninth (+3:56s) while Shahrul was 50th (+7:52s).
Amirull, however, is hopeful of winning the points classification today.
He remains in charge of the blue jersey (due to his higher finishing positions), although he is equal on 44 points with South African Rohan Du Plooy (ProTouch).