Harrif has opportunity to grab green jersey
TAIPING: Local racer, Mohd Harrif Salleh still has the chance to grab the green jersey (Sprint King) in the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) competition this time from Travis McCabe of the Floyd’s Pro Cycling as there are still three more stages to go.
After completing stage five from Proton City, Tanjung Malim to Dataran Warisan Taiping yesterday, the 30-year-old rider was in second place in the tussle for the green jersey with 42 points, 16 points behind the cyclist from the United States.
The Terengganu Inc TSG Cycling Team (TSG) racer, who emerged as the second Malaysian cyclist to win a stage in the biggest tour in Asia after the success of Anuar Manan in 2010, after he won the second stage from Senawang to Melaka on Sunday, ended the competition in fourth place in four hours, 27 minutes and 11 seconds together with the main peloton.
Despite having to be satisfied without podium today, he emerged as the best Malaysian racer for today, other than reaping 15 points in the sprint category to chase McCabe, with nine sprint zones more to go in the last three days of LTdL.
‘’I was hoping to get a podium position today, but because I was still tired and had not fully recovered from the climb to Genting Highlands yesterday, I could not match the three best racers today at the final sprint zone.
‘’I feel the 25 km climbing zone before the end of the race (Bukit Berapit) had made the condition difficult today. The LTdL route this time is quite challenging with hilly and long routes, for example, after the climb to Genting yesterday, today we immediately had a 200.1 km race.
‘’The three stages after this are set to give advantages to sprint specialists because the route is short and there are not many hills,’’ he told reporters after the stage today which had three sprint zones in Sungkai, Kampar and Sungai Siput, other than a Third Category climbing zone in Bukit Berapit.
Italian racer, Matteo Pelucchi from the Androni GiocattoliSidermec team emerged champion today while Blake Quick representing St George Continental Cycling Team and Travis Mccabe won second and third places, respectively, but recording the same time.
The fifth stage from Bagan to Alor Setar, a distance of 130.8 km, with three sprint zones from Sungai Petani, Gurun and Pendang, without any climbing zone, were expected to give an advantage to sprint racers. Bernama