Tour fo Malaysia Update


The Headline in the Malaysia Star Newspaper read " Kumar keeps flag flying - Malaysian ace finishes eighth, teammate Halim disqualified."

Peter Chan writes that "Malaysians riders almost stole the thunder from the more established foreigners in the third stage of the Le Tour de Langkawi from Penang to Ipoh yesterday."

The 172.50km race was won by Switzerland's Josef Christian in a time of 4'14:47.

Azizan Manaf and Halim Razak had a good chance to finish among the top 10 but failed because of their inexperience.

Halim, who was in the leading pack, was disqualified from the Tour after being caught hanging on to an official car.

Veteran M. Kumaresan kept the Malaysian flag flying high. He gave an improved performance to finish eighth. Kumaresan was 12th in the previous stage from Kangar to Penang on Saturday.

Another Malaysian, Nor Effendi Rosli of Team A, also gave a good show. He finished in 21st spot.

Britain's Chris Newton took over the yellow jersey from teammate Bryan Steel in the overall standing even though he was 32nd yesterday.

Azizan and Halim surprised the pack 66km from the finish when they pulled away together with Noli De Rosairo of the Philippines on the steep climb up Bukit Gantang.

Then, Halim was ordered to stop riding after being caught hanging on to an official car by a track marshall.

De Rosairo was slightly ahead of Azizan about 30km from Ipoh. There was no change to the positions until another 15km away when both were caught up by about 60 riders.

The scorching heat took its toil on Azizan and De Rosairo, who failed to sustain the pace. Azizan crossed the finishing line in 111th position.

Kumaresan's result was the best to date by a Malaysian rider since the tour began three days ago. His efforts kept Malaysia A ahead of the other Asian countries -- Japan, the Philippines, China and Thailand.

The new leaders in the team event are Giant of AIS-Australia. Malaysia A and C are also ahead of Britain.

Team A coach Ng Joo Ngan had no complaint about his riders' performances yesterday.

He added that the Malaysian riders were getting better with each stage.

"We proved that we are capable of finishing ahead of the cycling powers of Asia," said Joo Ngan.

He added that Tsen Seong Hoong, nicknamed Mountain King, will be the rider to watch in today's stage from Tanjung Malim to Genting Highlands.

A new award, the polka dot red jersey which carries a RM8,000 prize, will be given to the King of the Mountains in today's 128km stage.

Results - Stage 3 (Georgetown to Ipoh _ 172.50km):

 1. Josef Chriatian (Swi) 		4'14:47, 
 2. Glen Mitchell (Nzl), 
 3. Jay Sweet (Aus), 
 4. Ric Reid (NZl), 
 5. Patrick Vetsch (Swi), 
 6. Miroslav Riska (Svk), 
 7. Oleg Ruban (Ukr)
 8. M. Kumaresan (Mas)
 9.  Manfred Nepp (Ger)
10. Ralf Grabsch (Ger)
11. Miquel Van Kessel (Den)
12. Damian Mcdonald (Aus)
13. Andrei Korolev (Ukr)
14. Tommy Evans (Irl)
15. Paul Brosnan (Aus)
16. Matt Illingworth (Brit)
17. Aidan Duff (Veu)
18. John Tanner (Brit)
19. Kelvin Martin (Aus)
20. Mark Rendall (NZ)			s.t.    

Overall standings (after three stages - 398.40km):

 1. Chris Newton (Brit) 		9'29:43
 2. Bryan Steel (Brit) 			9'29:47
 3. Jay Sweet (Aus) 			9'29:47
 4. Christian Anderson (Den) 		9'29:56
 5. Brett Dennis (Aus) 			9'29:58
 6. Damian McDonald (Aus) 		9'29:58
 7. Kelvin Martin (Aus) 		9'29:58
 8. Paul Brosnan (Aus)			9'29:58
 9. Mark Tune Madsen (Den) 		9'30:08
10. Dani Svend Pedersen (Den)		9'30:08
11. Marc Jacobsen (Den) 		9'30:08
12. Morten Sonne (Den) 			9'30:08
13. Hnerik Jocobsen (Den) 		9'30:08
14. Damian Booth (Rsa) 			9'30:13
15. Blayne Wickner (Rsa) 		9'30:13
16. Douglas Rider (Rsa) 		9'30:13
17. Alan Volhuter (Rsa) 		9'30:13
18. Jacques Fullard (Rsa) 		9'30:13
19. David George (Rsa) 			9'30:13
20. Peter Rogers (Aus) 			9'30:18