Points
jersey winner returns to LTdL with higher ambitions
16/1/2009
Kuala Lumpur – A change of
team will not result in fewer ambitions for Aurélien Clerc
who is set to return to Le Tour de Langkawi with Ag2r-La Mondiale
one year after winning the green jersey of the points competition
with Bouygues Telecom.
Speaking from the training camp organised
this week by Ag2r in the Var province of southern France, the
Swiss rider remembered his days of glory at last year’s
LTdL. “It’s obviously an excellent memory since the
race went very well for myself and my team”, he said of
Bouygues Telecom who carried the yellow jersey almost all the
way after stage 1 won by Matthieu Sprick who eventually finished
2nd overall behind Ruslan Ivanov from Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni.
“From a personal point of view, I
like the hot countries and South East Asia in particular”,
Clerc added. “At the end of last season in October I took
my family on holiday to Thailand.”
The always smiling Swiss sprinter often
has a good word for Malaysia and Le Tour de Langkawi when he talks
about his cycling career. “Last year, I wasn’t supposed
to take part in it”, he recalled. “But I requested
my management to be included in the line up because LTdL appeals
to me more than the Tour of Qatar with longer stages and more
climbs. It suits me better and it’s a more appropriate preparation
for the classics. That’s why I asked my new team to put
me in once again with the aim of performing at the Spring’s
classics like last year.” Following his performance in Malaysia,
where he preceded local sprinter Anuar Manan from LeTua by no
less than 32 points, Clerc came 2nd in the Pro Tour one-day race
Ghent-Wevelgem in Belgium.
“My program is different this year”,
he continued. “In 2008, I started racing in Australia with
the Tour Down Under in January. This time around, Le Tour de Langkawi
will be my first competition. However, the training camps have
given me a good indication on my form and I’m confident
that I’ll be able to perform again. I even want to perform
more. There are more hills on the course this year and that could
turn into my advantage. I was very happy to win the green jersey
last time, I’d be even happier to win a stage or more next
month.”
The 29 years old from Vevey in the French speaking part of Switzerland
should have no problem to feel at ease inside his new French team
Ag2r-La Mondiale. He’ll have an excellent lead-out man in
the person of Nicolas Rousseau who was a member of the team pursuit
French squad at Beijing Olympics.
The 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi will feature
20 teams from February 9 to 15, starting in Putrajaya, the home
of Malaysian government, and finishing in the country’s
capital Kuala Lumpur with the traditional criterium at Dataran
Merdeka.
The Tour is organized by the Malaysian National
Cycling Federation (MNCF) with the support of the Malaysian Government
via the Ministry of Youth and Sports and sanctioned by the Union
Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and Asian Cycling Confederation
(ACC).
Ag2r-La Mondiale for Le Tour de Langkawi:
Aurélien Clerc (Swi), Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra), Julien
Loubet (Fra), Nicolas Rousseau (Fra), Jean-Charles Sénac
(Fra), Blaise Sonnery (Fra). Team manager: Arturas Kasputis.
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