20
teams for the 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi - A compact field with
some of the world’s best teams
31/12/2008
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 selection of the teams has been
the hardest ever”, said the Chief Operating Officer Datuk
Naim Mohamad. “We have received almost 50 bids from different
teams from all over the world. It means the 7 days race format
suits more teams than before. With a more compact field, we expect
an even more challenging race.” As usual, the five continents
will be competing in Malaysia for Asia’s biggest stage race.
“As we are aware of the importance
of the Hors-Category status of our event, we have composed a balanced
field with the priority being given to most competitive teams
from Europe and America”, Naim added. “Although we
are geographically far from the heart of cycling in Europe, we
believe in the anti-doping policy put together by the UCI, the
professional teams and the race organisers. We support the initiative
of the biological passport. Therefore we have selected nine teams
that adhere to the biological passport program and are eligible
for the Grand Tours.”
Among these nine teams, four come from the
Pro Tour circuit: Garmin-Chipotle from the USA, Ag2r and Bouygues
Telecom from France, as well as Fuji-Servetto from Spain. The
five Pro Continental teams are Diquigiovanni (Venezuela), CSF
(Ireland), Vorarlberg-Corratec (Austria), ISD (Italy) and the
Swiss-based Cervélo Test Team of Tour de France winner
Carlos Sastre.
“We are very happy to welcome newly
born and extremely promising teams like Cervélo and ISD”,
Naim continued. “Two years ago we were the first organisers
to invite Slipstream to a H.C. event because we thought this team
had a fantastic future and we are delighted to see them coming
back as Garmin-Chipotle with the prestige of being now one of
the world’s most competitive teams for the Tour de France
and the big classics.”
Oceania and Africa will be represented
in Malaysia by the Australian and South African national teams
respectively. “Le Tour de Langkawi being organised by the
Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), we also believe
in the good work done by some national federations in developing
cycling”, Naim said. Other national teams from Asia will
be: Malaysia, China, Iran and Kazakhstan while Asian continental
teams will complete the line up: MCF and LeTua from Malaysia,
Meitan-GDR from Japan, Seoul Cycling from Korea and the Doha Team
from Qatar for which it will be a first appearance at Le Tour
de Langkawi.
By mid-January, each team’s
line up is expected to be known.
The 20 participating teams: Garmin-Chipotle,
Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Fuji-Servetto, Diquigiovanni, CSF, Vorarlberg-Corratec,
ISD, Cervélo, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, China,
Iran, Kazakhstan, MCF, LeTua, Meitan-GDR, Seoul Cyling, Doha Team.
Datuk Naim Mohamad
Chief Operating Officer,
Le Tour de Langkawi 2009
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