Former world junior champ Yates adds weight to Le Tua team
02/02/2009, Malay Mail

The Malaysian continental team, Le Tua, having already signed up some seasoned campaigners for this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) have now added to their ranks a former world junior champion in Jeremy Yates of New Zealand for the marathon event which will run from Feb 9-15.

A junior world champion almost a decade a ago, Yates finished fourth overall last year with his national team and he is determined to take part in the Malaysian race again despite having temporarily left professional cycling to take up a job in the construction sector.

"My debut LTdL experience last year was simply amazing. The atmosphere and the spectator support were something special which made the event memorable. They were always friendly, polite and all smiles.

Yates was third in stage 3 and fifth on General Classification (GC) in the 2.2km Tour of Wellington in New Zealand last week. "I have been racing well in my country, winning various one-day races and tours recently. My last race overseas was the Herald Sun Tour in October in Australia where I finished fourth in stage 4 and seventh on GC."

Yates will keep his Malaysian connection beyond his main goal for the 2009 season. "This year I hope to race in Australia national series and the Herald Sun Tour again. I am leading the NZ national points series and have 10-15 race wins a year domestically. I would like to win Tour of Southland this year and also a stage race in Asian tour racing with Le Tua. Next year I hope to return to full-time racing with either a French or an American team."

<< BACK