Tour of Malaysia, Cat 1.4

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stages 6 to Final GC

Stage 1, ITT, 19.1 km:

 1. Eric Wohlberg, Canada, 		24.09.62
 2. Andrei Mizourov, Kazakstan		24:36.24
 3. Roland Green, Canada 		24:42.67
 4. Paul C. Manning, Britain		24:43.89
 5. Luca Scinto, Italy			24:44.09
 6. Frank M. McCormack Jr., USA 	24:44.39
 7. Roland Meier, Switzerland		24:49.48
 8. Vadim Kravchenko, Kazakstan		24:50.80
 9. Norman Alvis, United States		24:52.60
10. Mitchell Stuart Bruce, New Zealand	24:53.43
11. Vinokourov, Alexandr Kaz		24:54.85	   
12. McLean, Andrew Richard RSA		24:55.49
13. Walzer, Andreas GER			24:55.55
14. Lavrenenko, Serguei Kaz		24:55.75
15. Loda, Nicola MGT			25:02.44
16. Friedick, Mariano USA		25:05.42
17. Fontanelli, Fabiano MGT		25:05.77
18. Miller, Graeme NZL			25:08.00
19. Lange, Malcolm Edgar RSA		25:10.44
20. Streel, Marc CSO			25:11.25

Canadian rider Wohlberg wins first stage in Langkawi tour

Wohlberg finished in 24 minutes, 9.62 seconds to win the $2,400 prize for this sector.

Andrei Wizourov of Kazakstan was second in 24:36.24 and Wahlberg's teammate, Roland Green, placd third in 24:42.67.

``I did not expect to win the race because there are a lot of top riders in the world from Division One teams, especially Casino of France and Mapei GB and MG Technogym of Italy,'' the Bernama news agency quoted Wohlberg as saying in Kota Kinabalu, 1,460 kilometers (913 miles) east of Kuala Lumpur.

Kota Kinabalu was stage one of the dlrs 400,000, 1,613-kilometer (1,008-mile) road cycling race.

The field of more than 150 cyclists from more than 20 nations moves Thursday to Kuching, also in the Malaysian part of Borneo Island.

The 12-day event proceeds through 11 other states on peninsular Malaysia before ending on the northwestern resort island of Langkawi, 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Kuala Lumpur.

Stage 2, Kuching, Sarawak

There will be a CRITERIUM of 6 laps each of 8.8 km - 52.8 km - Commencing at 10.00 am, lasting for approximately one hour.

Participants in the CRITERIUM will race for prize money - 90% of the listed amount and teams will have the right to enter riders or complete teams. No points or complete teams. No points or jerseys will be awarded, however the current leader will be permitted to wear his yellow.

There will be a sprint at the end of each of the six laps with prize money of 10% of the total.

To provide the Organisers more time to transfers to Johor Bahru, Johor, for the 3rd stage, military aircraft will depart at 2.00 pm carrying riders and officials.

Le Tour de Langkawi 97 will therefore be reduced to eleven official stages. Stage Three will commence in Batu Pahat, Johor on 21st February, 1997.

Stage 2, Sarawak Criterium, 6 laps x 8.8km = 52.8 kms:

 1. McCormack, Frank M. Jr.USA	5400 RM
 2. Mitchell, Glen Anthony NZL 	2,700
 3. Friedick, Mariano USA 	1,800
 4. Weichert, Martin GER 	1,350
 5. Wirz, Guido PSS 		1,080
 6. Lange, Malcolm Edgar RSA 	1,008
 7. Silvos, Juris GER 		  936
 8. Liska, Tomas SVK 		  864
 9. Chassot, Richard PSS 	  810
10. Manning, Paul C. GBR 	  765
11. Nielsen, Jakob Gram DEN       684
12. Guyton, Scott NZL 		  630
13. Trumheller, Heinrich GER 	  576
14. Kemper, Gerardus NED 	  522
15. Abersold, Niki PSS 		  468
16. Zaduban, Pavol SVK 		  414
17. Kivilev, Andrey KAZ 	  360
18. Rosli, Nor Effandi MAS 	  306
19. Lauk, Andres FIN 		  252
20. McCormack, Mark USA 	  198

Stage 3, Johor to Bandar Melaka, 92 kms:

 1. Tafi, Andrea MAP		1:59:20
 2. Loda, Nicola MAG 
 3. McCormack, Mark SAT 
 4. Aebersold, Niki POS 
 5. Rogers, Peter Giant-AIS
 6. Bugno, Gianni MAP 
 7. Lauk, Andres FIN  
 8. Bramati, Davide MAP 
 9. Bettini, Paolo MAG 
10. Holestol, Svein Qaute NOR 
11. Sung-Hwan Ji KOR 
12. Karvchenko, Vadim KAZ 
13. Rokia, Antony CED 
14. Power, Claran IRL 
15. Evanshine Jeff SAT 
16. Manning, Paul GBR 
17. Silovs, Juris GBR 
18. Streel, Marc CSO 
19. Lavrenenko, Serguei KAZ 
20. Morissette, Sebastian CAN	all s.t.

GC after Stage 3

 1. Wohlberg, Eric CAN  	     2:23:29 
 2. Mizourov, Andrei KAZ 		0.27
 3. Green, Roland CAN  			0.33
 4. Manning, Paul C. GBR 		0.34
 5. Scinto, Luca MAG 			0.35
 6. McCormack, Frank M. Jr SAT   	s.t.
 7. Meier, Roland POS 			0.40
 8. Kravchenko, Vadim KAZ 		0.41
 9. Alvis Norman, SAT 			0.43
10. Mitchell, Stuart Bruce NZL 		0.44
11. McLean, Andrew Richard RSA 		0.46
12. Walzer, Andreas GER   		s.t.
13. Lavrenenko, Serguei KAZ		s.t.
14. Loda, Nicola MAG 			0.53
15. Vinokourov, Alexandr KAZ 		0.55
16. Friedick, Mariano SAT 		0.56
17. Fontanelli, Fabiano MAG   
18. Miller, Graeme NZL 			0.59
19. Lange, Malcolm Edgar RSA 	        1:01
20. Streel, Marc CSO 			1:02

Stage 3 Report

The world's No. 1 club Mapei GB of Italy, proved why they are just that, when they took the 92km race from Batu Pahat in Johor to the historic city of Malacca with relative ease.

After establishing the lead right from the flag-off, Mapei, powered by twice world champion Gianni Bugno and the world No. 11 cyclist, Andrea Tafi, easily broke away from the main pack with eight other cyclist 45km into the race.

With just 10km more to go before they were to reach the finish line, Tafi made a clean breakaway only to be pursued by Nicola Loda of the GM Technogym outfit - but Loda was simply not in the same class as Tafi powered his way home in style.

"The heat is terrible," said Tafi after that obviously exhausting race where a tremendous pace was set by the world's top team.

"The course was not that difficult as it is mostly flat while the hill climb was not much of an effort too.

"I would not like to predict what'll happen in the next couple of days just because I won this stage. As I say before, we'll see."

However, the win does not give Tafi the right to wearing the yellow jersey as the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) race director Hugo Steinegger had conceded to the request made by Casino C'est Votre E'quipe of France, that time classifications not be considered today as the team had some of their bicycles left behind in Johor Bahru on the transfer to Batu Pahat. All the cyclists were credited with the same timing.

As such, Canadian Eric Wohlberg still retained the yellow jersey while Andrei Mizhourov kept the orange he won in Kota Kinabalu. The only consolation for Tafi was that he clinched the first of the green jersey after he took both sprints along the route while the red jersey, awarded to the mountain king, was given to Roland Green of Canada.

"We are a little tired after yesterday and the team is coping with a bit of sickness too," said Wohlberg, the current Tour leader.

"We missed the big one when the party broke away but from tomorrow onwards, we will be putting extra attention on the Mapei boys."

Stage 4, Port Dickson-Sunway Lagoon, 203.5 km:

  1. Frank McCormack (Usa) Saturn      5.00.51 (45,585 km/h)
  2. Heinrich Trumheller (Ger)            s.t.
  3. Alberto Elli (Ita) Casino            s.t.
  4. Angelo Lecchi (Ita) MG               s.t.
  5. Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz)             + 0.07
  6. John Tanner (Gbr)                  + 0.15
  7. Andrew Richard McLean (Rsa)          s.t.
  8. Graeme Miller (Nzl)                + 1.23
  9. Juris Silovs (Ger)                   s.t.
 10. Christian Andersen (Den)             s.t.

Overall after Stage 4:

  1. Frank McCormack (USA) Saturn      7.24.45 
  2. Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz)             + 0.23
  3. Andrew Richard McLean (Rsa)        + 0.36
  4. Heinrich Trumheller (Ger)          + 0.39
  5. Eric Wohlberg (Can)                + 0.58
  6. Angelo Lecchi (Ita) MG             + 1.11
  7. John Tanner (Gbr)                  + 1.17
  8. Roland Green (Can)                 + 1.31
  9. Alberto Elli (Ita) Casino          + 1.33
 10. Serguei Lavrenenko (Kaz)           + 1.44

Stage 4 Report

With the win in an official race in four days, McCormack finished the 203.5km to snatch the yellow jersey and the overall classification from Canadian Eric Wohlberg.

The race today proved that there are no one dominant force in the Tour as there are teams who are able to take on the race just as well as the Class 1 teams of Mapei GB or MG Technogym of Italy.

"I have ridden in warm conditions before but this is something which I never thought that I experience," said McCormack, who's brother Mark rides in the same team.

"I managed to break away from the main pack with five other riders with 40km more to go to the finish.

"But with a few kilometres left, three of us managed to leave the rest all the way to the finish line."

While McCormack said that the heat was unbearable especially for the foreigners, the course today was by far the toughest stage yet as the cyclists not only had to endure the scorching weather but hilly terrain especially in the coastal route.

The mountain king category, signified by the rider wearing the red jersey from polka dot, was won by British Matthew Postle while the orange jersey, specially created for the best Asian rider, Kazakhstan proved once again that they are the ones to beat when Vadim Kravchenko took over the leadership from team mate Andrei Mizhourov.

And while MG Technogym rider Nicola Loda were disappointed yesterday after finishing second in Malacca, he managed to exact revenge of sort when he beat Andre Tafi of Mapei to the green jersey.

While the race may seem to be eclipsing the abilities of defending champion Giant-AIS of Australia, its team manager Heiko Salzwedel felt that the race is still very much in the open.

"There are other cyclists who are capable of creating upsets from time to time as the weather here is something which is proving to be a deciding factor in the outcome of every race," added Salzwedel.

Stage 5, BERJAYA, KL, 159.1 kms:

 1. Walzer, Andreas GER			3:47:55 41.884 kms/hr
 2. Vlijm, Mark NED 
 3. Silvos, Juris GER 
 4. Dufourni, Pascal CED 
 5. Kemper, Gerardus NED 
 6. Bettini, Paolo MAG 
 7. Huser, Rolf POS 
 8. Matt, Reto GER 
 9. Loda, Nicola MAG 
10. Sung-Hwan Ji KOR 
11. Dae-Hong Jun KOR 
12. Mitchell, Glen Anthony NZ 
13. Sweet, Jay Giant-AIS
14. Tanner, John GBR 
15. Yechen Xiao CHN 
16. Butler, Paul IRL 
17. Kumaresan, M. MAS 
18. Aug, Andrus FIN 
19. Andersen, Christian DEN 
20. Miller, Graeme NZ			all s.t.

GC after Stage 5

 1. McCormack, Frank M. Jr. SAT		    11:12:40 
 2. Kravchenko, Vadim KAZ 			0:23
 3. Trumheller, Heinrich GER			0:39
 4. Wohlberg, Eric CAN 				1:06
 5. Lecchi, Angelo MAG 				1:11
 6. Elli, Alberto CSO4				1:33
 7. McLean, Andrew Richard RSA 			1:36
 8. Green, Roland CAN 				1:39
 9. Vinokourov, Alexandr KAZ 			1:51
10. Lavrenenko, Serguei KAZ 			1:52
11. Meier, Roland POS 				1:54
12. Scinto, Luca MAG 				1:57
13. Alvis, Norman SAT   
14. Mitchell, Stuart Bruce NZ 			1:58
15. Miller, Graeme NZ				2:04
16. Loda, Nicola MAG				2:07
17. Streel, Marc CSO 				2:16
18. Walton, Brian SAT 				2:17
19. Tanner, John GBR   
20. Voigt, Jens Giant-AIS			2:27