KUALA TERENGGANU – National team coach Mohd Yusuf Abdul Nasir has left no doubt that his squad is not merely making up the numbers at Le Tour de Langkawi.
In a sensational performance during yesterday’s Stage 1, which kicked off in Kerteh and ended in Kuala Terengganu, the national team surged to the top of not one, but two significant categories.
Remarkably, they emerged as the best Asian team and overall best in the competition.
In addition to the team’s success, sprinter Mohamad Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil narrowly missed out on a podium finish, securing fourth place.
“I’m not surprised at all by this result, I know what these boys can do after training them for the past several months.
“They are among the best in the country. Izzat’s fourth-place finish is the perfect birthday gift for me,” said Yusuf, who turned 42 yesterday.
However, he does not want the team to rest on their laurels.
“We don’t want to be proud of a good performance in just one stage.
“We’ve trained for months, we don’t want to just do well for one or two stages.
“We want to do well on all the stages and we have the strategy to do it,” added Yusuf.
For today’s Stage 2 from Kuala Terengganu to Kota Bharu, Yusuf is looking for his riders to fight for the jerseys.
“We want to fight for the jerseys because Muhamad Zawawi Azman was top-three in both climbing stages yesterday.
“We will try to fight for points and at the same time we will try to put our sprinters Izzat and Zulhelmi Zainal in a good position to get onto the podium,” he added. — September 24, 2023