The 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) had featured 20 teams from 9 to 15 February, starting in Putrajaya, the home of Malaysian government and finishing in the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, with the traditional criterium at Dataran Merdeka.
According to LTdL 2009 Chief of Operations Datuk Naim Mohamad, the selection of the teams has been the hardest ever. “We have received almost 50 bids from different teams from all over the world. It means the seven-day race format suits more teams than before. With a more compact field, we expect an even more challenging race,” he says. As usual, the five continents will be competing in Malaysia for Asia’s biggest stage race.
Naim says they have composed a balanced field with the priority being given to most competitive teams from Europe and America as they are aware of the importance of the Hors-Category status of the event. “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 quips. “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. We are also delighted to see them coming back as Garmin-Chipotle with the prestige of being 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 is organised by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF). 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.
The 20 participating teams are 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 and Doha Team.
More than 800 million viewers are expected to watch the telecast of Le Tour de Langkawi through sports channels all over the world. The race will be telecast via ESPN, Starsports, Supersports, Eurosports, Total Sports and more apart from the local broadcast stations.
