Historic ride Anuar first Malaysian to win a stage in Tour of Langkawi
06/03/2010, THE STAR

PORT DICKSON: Local cycling ace Anuar Manan continued his sensational form to create history by becoming the first Malaysian to win a stage in the Tour of Langkawi.

Anuar, 24, representing Geumsan Ginseng Asia, won yesterday’s Stage five from Muar, Johor to Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, a distance of 111.5km, en route to sweeping aside a strong challenge from world class pro tour and continental riders.

With the victory, the Terengganu-born rider who clocked 2’23:11, joined an illustrious list of seven riders from Asia who have achieved such a feat and only the second Asean rider to do so since 1996.

The other Asean rider who managed such a feat was Indonesian Samai Amari from Le Tua, last year.

Apart from the stage win, Anuar also wrested the green jersey from overnight leader Michael Matthews (Jayco-Skins) from Australia after winning one sprint zone yesterday at Umbai, Malacca.

“I am absolutely delighted with the stage win as I have achieved the target and the win was made possible because of the tremendous support from the local fans. I must thank the fans for spurring me on,” said Anuar.

Anuar who also retained the blue jersey as the Best Asian rider paid tribute to his team-mates, the Malaysian national team and riders from the Marco Polo team who helped him to overtake Matthews.

“We (Geumsan Ginseng Asia) conserved our energy according to our strategy and unleashed when it was necessary, especially in the final sprint to the finish line,” he said.

“Up to the fourth stage I was concentrating on collecting points from the sprint zones while Matthews used his team-mates to foil my attempts when he accumulated points from winning the first and third stage,” he said.

Meanwhile, the yellow jersey for the overall leader, remained with German rider Tobias Erler from Iran’s Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling, with a time of 17’59:23. — Bernama

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