The 132-strong peloton for the 2013 edition of le Tour de Langkawi was presented to the public today at the striking Dataran Lang in Langkawi, complete with its giant eagle statue. The race’s strapline of “The Heat is On” was very much in evidence as riders spent as little time as possible in the glare of the late-morning Malaysian sun; pausing only for a few photographs before being transported back to the comfort of their air-conditioned hotel.
The ten-day race begins tomorrow with a 162.7km stage between Kangar and Kulim, on the north west coast of the mainland Malaysian peninsular; although there are to be no stages on the Langkawi this year, the race still presented itself on the island that gave it its name.
With all-but two of the ten stages likely to end in bunch sprints, most of the teams have brought along their fastest riders; with the big sprint duel expected to come between record 11-time stage winner Andrea Guardini, at the head of his new Astana team, and former track superstar Theo Bos, with a Blanco team almost entirely dedicated to him.
The sprint rivalry is unlikely to be a simple two-way affair, however, with many other big names on the start line. Guardini’s former Vini Fantini-Selle Italia team has brought along the youngster’s replacement, in the shape of Francesco Chicchi, while WorldTour squads Garmin-Sharp, Orica-GreenEdge and Omega Pharma-Quick Step have brought Koldo Fernandez, Allan Davis and Andy Fenn respectively.
Local hopes will be carried on the shoulders of Terengganu’s Harrif Salleh, who twice made the stage podium in last year’s race.
The two stages that certainly do not suit the sprinters are stages three and five, which finish on Cameron Highlands and Genting Highlands respectively. These are likely to be where the general classification will be decided, and so the overall race should be set to be won by a climber as usual.
The big climbing name at the race this year is that of Europcar’s Pierre Rolland, the winner of the Alpe d’Huez stage of the 2011 Tour de France, and the La Toussirre stage of 2012. The Frenchman will be one of the hot favourites to take at least one of these stages, but he too will meet a stiff challenge from the myriad of climbing talent on other teams.
Le Tour de Langkawi 2013 (2.HC) February 21st - March 2nd
Stages
Stage 1: Thursday, 21 February - Kangar to Kulim, 162.7 km
Stage 2: Friday, 22 February - Serdang to Kuala Kangsar, 117.8 km
Stage 3: Saturday, 23 February - Sungai Siput to Cameron Highlands, 140.7 km
Stage 4: Sunday, 24 February - Tapah to Kapar, 168.0 km
Stage 5: Monday, 25 February - Proton to Genting, 110.3 km
Stage 6: Tuesday, 26 February - Mentakab to Kuantan, 217.5 km
Stage 7: Wednesday, 27 February - Kuantan to Dungun, 149.8 km
Stage 8: Thursday, 28 February - Kuala Terengganu to Tanah Merah, 164.5 km
Stage 9: Friday, 1 March - Pasir Puteh to Kuala Berang, 123.6 km
Stage 10: Saturday, 2 March - Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terengganu Loop, 114.8 km
Official Start List
GARMIN - SHARP (GRS)
TEAM MANAGER : MCRAE, Chann
1 FERNANDEZ DE LARREA Koldo
2 HAAS Nathan
3 KREDER Raymond
4 FAIRLY Caleb
5 STETINA Peter
6 VON HOFF Steele
ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST)
TEAM MANAGER : KIRSIPUU Jaan
11 GUARDINI Andrea
12 DYACHENKO Alexsandr
13 BAZAYEV Assan
15 LUTSENKO Alexey
16 KASHECHKIN Andrey
17 TLEUBAYEV Ruslan
ORICA GREENEDGE (OGE)
TEAM MANAGER : WILSON Matthew
21 DAVIS Allan
22 DURBRIDGE Luke
23 KRUOPIS Aidis
24 MEYER Travis
25 SULZBERGER Wesley
26 WEENING Pieter
BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM (BLA)
TEAM MANAGER : Jeroen Blijlevens
31 BOS Theo
32 BROWN Graeme
33 BOL Jetse
34 LEEZER Thomas
35 VAN EMDEN Jos
36 GOOS Marc
OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (OPQ)
TEAM MANAGER : VAN SLYCKE Rik
41 GRABSCH Bert
42 FENN Andrew
43 GOLAS Michal
44 PAUWELS Serge
45 SERRY Pieter
46 VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos
VINI FANTINI - SELLE ITALIA (VIN)
TEAM MANAGER : AMORIELLO Luca
51 CHICCHI Francesco
52 DE NEGRI Pier Paolo
53 BORCHI Stefano
54 MERLO Michele
55 MONSALVE Yonathan
56 SANO Jano
UNITEDHEALTHCARE PRO CYCLING TEAM (UHC)
TEAM MANAGER : Wilfried Cretskens
61 KEOUGH Jake
62 ILESIC Aldo
63 MURPHY John
64 LOUDER Jeffry
65 CLARKE Jonathan
66 EUSER Lucas
CHAMPION SYSTEM PRO CYCLING TEAM (CSS)
TEAM MANAGER : BEAMON Edward
71 OTHMAN Muhamad Adiq Husainie
72 BEYER Chad
73 BUTLER Chris
74 GAZVODA Gregor
75 LEWIS Craig
76 SCHNAIDT Fabian
EUROPCAR (EUC)
TEAM MANAGER : FLICKINGER Andy
81 ARASHIRO Yukiya
82 COQUARD Bryan
83 GAUTIER Cyril
84 QUEMENEUR Perrig
85 REZA Kévin
86 ROLLAND Pierre
ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI - VENEZUELA (AND)
TEAM MANAGER : ROBERTO MIODINI
91 GIL MARTINEZ Tomas Aurelio
92 OCHOA Carlos José
93 RODRIGUEZ Jackson
94 BERTAZZO Omar
95 Facchini Patrick
96 Rosa Diego
MTN QHUBEKA (MTN)
TEAM MANAGER : CAMPBELL Kevin
101 VAN NIEKERK Dennis
102 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques
103 TEWELDE WELDEGABIR Jani
104 RUSSOM Meron
105 PARDILLA Sergio
106 GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam
SYNERGY BAKU CYCLING PROJECT (BCP)
TEAM MANAGER : HUNT Jeremy
111 MANAN Anuar
112 ROGERS Rico
113 POZDNYAKOV Kirill
114 CRAVEN Dan
115 EBSEN John
116 McConvey Connor
TABRIZ PETROCHEMICAL TEAM (TPT)
TEAM MANAGER : ABDOLZADE Ali Akbar
121 GHADER Misbani Iranagh
122 NATEGHI Hossein
123 SOHRABI Mehdi
124 SAFARZADEH Saeid
125 ASGHARZADEH Alireza
126 KOLAHDOZHAGH Amir
RTS RACING TEAM (RTS)
TEAM MANAGER : MOONDET Chaiya
131 Yong Li NG
132 SunJae JANG
133 NINO CORREDOR Victor
134 CELIS ZABALA Vidal
135 DESTRIBOIS Alex
136 PUJOL MUNOZ Oscar
TERENGGANU CYCLING TEAM (TSG)
TEAM MANAGER : DUCLOS Sebastien
141 SALLEH Mohd Harrif
142 SALLEH Mohd Zamri
143 ROSDI Mohd Nor Umardi
144 M. SAIFUL ANUAR Aziz
145 MAT SENAN Mohammad Saufi
146 MAT AMIN Mohd Shahrul
OCBC SINGAPORE CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM (TSI)
TEAM MANAGER : CHEONG Weiwen Justin
151 LOH Sea Keong
152 RABOU Josaphus Thomas
153 SAI-UDOMSIN Phuchong
154 GOH Choon Huat
155 HO Junrong
156 LOW Ji Wen
TEAM NIPPO - DE ROSA (PPO)
TEAM MANAGER : ELLI Alberto
161 ARREDONDO MORENO Julian David
162 BALIANI Fortunato
163 FUKUSHIMA Shinichi
164 ISHIBASHI Manabu
165 RICHEZE Mauro Abel
166 TOKUDA Tanzou
AISAN RACING TEAM (AIS)
TEAM MANAGER : BEPPU Takumi
171 AYABE Takeaki
172 NISHITANI Taiji
173 MORI Kazuhiro
174 NAKAJIMA Yasuharu
175 FUKUDA Shinpei
176 ITO Masakazu
KSPO (KSP)
TEAM MANAGER : LEE Byeon Gil
181 PARK Sung Baek
182 CHOI Seung Woo
183 SEO Joon Yong
184 YEON JE Sung
185 JUNG Ji Min
186 KWON Soon Young
HENGXIANG CYCLING TEAM (HEN)
TEAM MANAGER : Mr. JIANHAO Tang
191 WANG Meiyin
192 LI Fuyu
193 XING Fu
194 LIU Yilin
195 LIU Jianpeng
196 WANG Bo
MALAYSIA NATIONAL TEAM (MAS)
TEAM MANAGER : Omar Saad
201 Mohamad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi
202 Amir Mustafa Rusli
203 Muhamad Rauf Nur Misbah
204 Mohd Nor Rizuan Zainal
205 Zulhimie Afif Ahmad Zamri
206 Yusrizal Usoff
INDONESIA NATIONAL TEAM (INA)
TEAM MANAGER : Ircham Mochamad
211 CAHYADI Aiman
212 SURYADI Dadi
213 FITRIANTO Hari
214 ENDRA Wijaya
215 ROBIN Manulang
216 ABDULAH Fatahilah