KUALA LUMPUR – Taking into account feedback that last year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) route was not challenging enough, this year’s organisers have designed one of the most difficult courses in the history of the race.
LTdL chief operating officer Emir Abdul Jalal said the public and riders would be getting what they asked for from this year’s race route.
The highly requested return of Langkawi to the course – and an excursion into Borneo – have been long anticipated by local road cycling fans.
“This is what has been requested by the Malaysian people, and riders.
“Last year, we received feedback from a few teams, such as EF Education-EasyPost, who brought four climbers; Euskaltel–Euskadi, whose entire roster consisted of climbers; and Caja-Rural, who also brought many climbers to the last edition.
“When we ascended the Titiwangsa Range and Genting Highlands, they said that they did not feel like the route was challenging enough.
“After receiving that feedback, we purposely went about designing a climb-heavy course punctuated by back-to-back climbing stages in Stages 3 and 4.
“The routes from Taiping to Cameron Highlands and Kuala Kubu Bharu to Genting Highlands both feature ‘hors catégorie’ climbs, where we can see the overall winner emerge for this year’s race,” he told reporters yesterday.
A hors catégorie climb is used to designate an ascent that is “beyond categorisation” – usually the most difficult climb in a road cycling race.
Emir added that one of the reasons Sarawak would be hosting two stages was that, in previous years, the race would only hold short courses before scrambling back to the peninsula.
“Previously the race would only hold a short criterium over 80-90km and then would scurry over back to the peninsula.
“It was not worthwhile, so this year we wanted to hold two stages to allow the locals to watch an actual bicycle race.
“The Miri-Bintulu route is particularly challenging as the distance is almost 200km, which will give the riders (a chance) to breakaway so they can make up for time lost on other stages. I expect to see the overall winner emerge from this stage also.
“The other challenging part is the course is very bumpy, akin to the Paris-Roubaix race in France which will present a new challenge to the cyclists,” he added. – March 19, 2024