Climber Serpa set to conquer Genting today
13/02/2009, Malay Mail

THE days of glory should be over for race leader Mattia Gavazzi of Diquigiovanni- Androni as the Tour de Langkawi continues with Stage 5 and the monster climb up Genting Highland today.

Gavazzi, winner of the first three stages, had done his job and yesterday even allowed Le Tua’s Samai Samai to upstage him when the Indonesia won Stage 4 from Malacca to Bandar Baru Bangi.

In fact local team Le Tua conquered the podium as they took three wins in the tour’s longest stage.

Le Tua’s Indonesian rider, Samai Samai, won the stage when he outsprinted Gavazzi and Nolan Hoffman of the South African national team, who finished second and third respectively.

But Samai, Gavazzi, Hoffman and the other sprinters will no longer be in contention for the overall win, because with Genting in the way, they never were.

Who will step forward?

Some 84 riders on the General Classification are within 39 seconds of the leader’s jersey and among them are Malaysia’s Suhardi Hassan, who is representing the MNCF team.

Suhardi is 12th in the individual standings but one Asian rider who could surprise everybody is Le Tua’s ace Indonesian Tonton Susanto, a proven climber who is on 44th spot but also only 39 seconds behind Gavazzi.

Jacques Janse Van Rensburg of South Africa is among the contenders too but he is not the strongest climber among the 84 riders pursuing the yellow jersey.

Instead Tour fans should perhaps look out for Diquigiovanni- Androni's team leader Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez, also 39 seconds off the leader, as the probable winner of this year's race.

Serpa faces a strong challenger in Fuji-Servetto's Juan Jose Cobo, who had finished second on Stage 10 (Pau-Hautacam) climb of the 2008 Tour de France and Alexandre Pliushin, 21, from Ag2r-La Mondiale who is 6th in the King of the Mountain category.

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