Yong Li bears huge responsibility leading team Le Tua
08/02/2009

KUALA LUMPUR, 8 February: The team leader of Le Tua, Ng Yong Li bears a huge responsibility to make sure that the team retains their excellence winning the blue jersey last year.

The 24-year old rider will make his past experience, training with the under 23 Liberty Seguros and being the rider of Victoria ASC and Meitan Hompo-GDR, to strategize Le Tua’s path to the podium.

"I will work together with Tonton Susanto, Jeremy Yates and the rest of the team to ensure Le Tua’s win over the Asian jersey. We will surely help Jeremy who was in the fourth place overall last year to get a better placing this time around," he said.

Being the team leader of LeTua is not a burden to the ex-rider of Proton T-Bikes (2005) because to him, the most important is to perform the best regardless which teams he is in.

"My main task stays the same. Regardless which team I am with, I will strive for the best.

Due to his relentless spirit and his love for the sports, Yong Li not only sacrificed the celebrating Chinese New Year with loved ones, he also managed to get back to health from Chicken Pox in mere four days.

Yong Li is confident that he is fully fit and promises a good fight and will strive for a place in the Asian category, in which he was in eighth place in the previous edition of LTdL.

"I am confident that my fitness level is way better compared to previous year. I am really glad that I have fully recovered from the illness.

"Even though I have to sacrificed the Chinese New Year celebration this year, it has become a norm by now as when LTdL approaches, it is along the dates of New Year. One thing for sure though, training is of the utmost important in order to be victorious," he added.

Been participating in LTdL five years in a row, the rider who hails from Batu Pahat, Johor describe this edition will be more challenging even though this edition only features seven-stage compared to nine stages in the previous edition.

"Even though it is shorter in distance, there is hillclimb in each stage and with quite a number of really good riders this year’s LTdL will be a challenging race and everything has to be taken into account to ensure the best achievement will be Le Tua’s," he said.

Yong Li, with another three renowned climbers - Tonton, Jeremy and Yueng Meng have strategized to compete with the climbers from Iran National Team such as Ghader Mizbani and Hosein Askari.

"We will ensure no riders get to break away on straight road, and always be in the first bunch. We will go all out at the climb stages," he said.

As for the preparation of the 14th edition of LTdL this year, Yong Li said that, as the Hors status race will commence in two days time, Le Tua will have only light training of two-hour to keep the fitness level of riders at its best.

Yong Li who had a long vacation after he came back from France in August last year, had been in training for three months along with fellow countrymen from LeTua such as Mohd Razif Salleh, Lim Yue Meng and four others, Tonton Susanto, Samai Samai (Indonesia) and Jeremy Yates (New Zealand) while Low Jee Yuen (Singapore) is the reserved rider.

LTdL edisi ke-14 will be held from 9th to 15th Feb, with a showcase of 20 teams’ feat in seven stages starting from Putrajaya and will end in Kuala Lumpur in a criterium stage in Dataran Merdeka.

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