Cyclists to get new bikes for Olympic Games challenge
PETALING JAYA: It’s going to be the best ride ever for Malaysian Olympicbound cyclists in Paris.
Azizulhasni Awang, Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom and debutant Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri, have an extra reason to be all excited as all of them will get newer version bikes when they compete in the track competition at Velodrome National in Saint Quentin en Yvelines in August.
The National Sports Institute (NSI) had been developing bikes since 2017, and for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, they collaborated with UK computational fluid dynamics specialist Totalsim Ltd to provide bikes for Azizulhasni and Firdaus at a cost of roughly RM13 million.
The bikes, made with a mix of titanium and carbon fiber, are said to be the lightest, hardy, and most aerodynamic in the world in their class, when they were launched in 2020.
National track cycling coach John Beasley said the trio would get the updated version of the Olympic bikes after the aero tests in London end of this month.
“There will be new bikes for them, a new bike for Izzah as well, she’ll get one of the Olympic bikes other than the one she is using,” said the Australian.
“There will be a lot of small gains for her, she had no aero gains before ... she will have the package together with the guys, which will help her performance.
“It’s very similar to the Tokyo Olympic bikes; we had a couple of years to tweak it a bit. It looks the same, but obviously, the technology has improved with the carbon.”
Beasley added the trio will be based in Europe later for almost two months as part of their final preparations for Paris.
The riders will head to Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Spain to undergo training and participate in several competitions there; and will undergo intensive training at the National Velodrome in Nilai starting next week.
Beasley added that the trio may possibly take part in the National Championships in Nilai from May 20-24.
“We will be going to Belgium for a few weeks in June and will participate in a tournament. Then we will head to Mallorca (Spain) in July for summer camp and then to Paris,” added Beasley.