Quality field promises thrills
NST, 9/2/2008
INTEREST in the race for the overall
general classification (GC) of the 13th edition of Le Tour de
Langkawi (LTdL) has been overwhelmed by the mouthwatering anticipation
of a clash of sprinters with a dash of real belief that a Malaysian
spoiler may be on the cards.
And that clash will most likely begin today
with a flat 182.6 kilometre flat stage from Alor Star to Kepala
Batas. The arrival of Danilo Hondo with his new Serramenti Diquigiovanni
team has assured last year’s five-stage winner Alberto Loddo
of Tinkoff Credit Systems a sure fight in the battles within the
bunch sprints.
But it won’t just be Loddo versus
Hondo, as Bouygues Telecom’s Aurelien Clerc, CSF-Navigare’s
Ruben Bongiorno and Credit Agricole’s Jeremy Hunt will be
sure to arrive in those final kilometres of the seven flat stages
on offer in this year’s race.
Local team Le Tua yesterday again reiterated
that they are highly motivated to put their sprinter Anuar Manan
in the running as well.
The unavailability of the Genting climb,
replaced by the Fraser’s Hill stage on the eighth day of
the Tour, has opened up the race for the general classification
— albeit having spoiled the plans of Serramenti Diquigiovanni
— who had come armed with climbers aiming to end their three
year wait for their third individual GC title in LTdL after Hernan
Dario Munoz did it for them in 2002 and Freddy Gonzalez in 2004.
“Unfortunately for us, we had planned
for the Genting stage, but this is not possible this time. Fraser’s
Hill might not necessarily be won by a climber, so we will also
be looking for our sprinters to do something,” said Serramenti
Diquigiovanni team manager Gianni Savio, whose team come from
the Vuelta San Luis in Argentina, where Venezuelan climber Jose
Carlos Ochoa won a stage.
“The most important sprinter in this
race will be Loddo, because he has the form and he comes from
winning a stage in the Tour of Qatar. The stages which will give
Hondo an advantage are those with a little bit of climbing, but
here most of them are just flat. In the Vuelta San Luis we also
saw Bongiorno there and he looks like he’s in good form.”
If favourites need to be named than Loddo’s
Tinkoff Credit Systems team must be the ones loaded with them,
as apart from the Italian they have likely overall winners Pavel
Brutt and Walter Pedraza, for both of whom the Fraser’s
Hill stage might be set for. But the start of the Tour today is
likely to be one set for Loddo.
“I think I’m coming here with
good form as I started with the Tour of Qatar and even won a stage
there. So, the pressure of delivering my first win of the season
is not there. I’ll be going for the win right from the first
stage,” said Loddo.
Unless some threatening breakaways succeed
prior to the Fraser’s Hill stage next Saturday, the GC and
the Asian rider’s classification will be decided there.
Until then, it will be the bunch
sprint finishes — which could sometimes prove to be spectacular
— which may well be the order of the Tour all week.
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