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Jelajah Malaysia - 2.2
Malaysia, January 6-12, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - January 6: Bentung - Kuantan, 194.7 km
Iijima becomes first international winner for 2007
By Jean-François Quénet in Kuantan
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Not to be confused with Le Tour de Langkawi, scheduled for February 2 to 11, the Jelajah Malaysia is the second revival of the 44 year-old Tour of Malaysia - Jalajah is a Bahasa Malaysian translation for Tour. After two years off the event started today from Bentong on a flat, 194 kilometre-long stage to Kuantan, near the South China Sea.
Victory on the opening stage has crowned Makoto Iijima, from the Japanese national team, as the first winner of an international race in 2007. He's no stranger to the fans of Asian cycling. At 36 years old Iijima won a silver medal at the Asian Games one month ago with Iranian Mehdi Sohrabi taking third place behind him.
Sohrabi is the 2006 Asian Champion, a crown he claimed ahead of Iijima. Since the Jelajah Malaysia gathers most of Asia's best riders - plus two clubs from Denmark and the US - it's no huge surprise to find Iijima and Sohrabi battling for the lead in Kuantan.
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"For our team, in a stage race it's very important to win Stage 1, so I'm very happy," Iijima said after the finish.
Before half way, a group of 14 riders broke from the main group. Then, with 75 km remaining on the opening stage, 15 counter attackers joined them. "But the communication was not very good" explained Sohrabi. "It was like everybody was hesitating. Iijima pursued, so I decided to attack with less than 40km and the two other guys came with me."
Iran's Hossain Jahanbanian and Kai Tsun Lam from Hong Kong followed but only Lam managed to stay with Iijima until the end, claiming him second place. Behind the lead pair Sohrabi and Danish rider Thomas Just had escaped the pack to take third and fourth place respectively.
The main peloton reached Kuantan four-minutes behind the breakaway group containing Hong Kong's Kam Po Wong. The Asian Games champion seems to have taken the best benefit of the opening stage, because he got a nice lead on other race favorites like Giant's Ghader Mizbani but didn't have to take part in any chase behind his compatriot and team-mate Lam.
The Jelajah Malaysia is set to be a flat race on all but one day. Tuesday's Stage 4 travels through a hilly jungle location, where Gianni Bugno got the second last win of his career at the 1997 Tour de Langkawi, before finishing in Gerik.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-François Quénet/Cyclingnews.com
- Top three after day one. (L-R) Kai Tsun Lam, winner Makoto Iijima and Mehdi Sorahbi.
- Sayuti Zahit was the first Malaysian across the line in 10th position.
- Anuar Manan from Malaysia's first continental team LeTua.jpg interviewed by the local press after the finish.
Images by Francis Cerny
- The Russian sprinter Sergey Kudentsov before the start of Jelajah Malaysia stage one in Bentung.
- Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team rider Loh Sea Keong from Malaysia.
- Sergey Kudentsov from Russia in action during stage one.
- Chinese rider Xing Yan Dong (Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team) before the start in Bentung.
- Chinese rider Yu Tong (Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team).
- Yu Tong (Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team).
Results
1 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Japan National Team 4.29.31 2 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 0.07 3 Mehdi Sohrabi (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 0.40 4 Thomas Just (Den) Team Farso Cycling 0.47 5 Anuar Manan (Mas) Team Le Tua 1.02 6 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.03 7 Hossain Jahanbanian (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 8 Ahad Kazemi Sarai (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 1.04 9 Mohd Zamri Salleh (Mas) Terengganu 10 Ahmed Alhanadsa (UAE) United Arab Emirates National Team 1.05 11 Kudentsov Sergey (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 12 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 13 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) Japan National Team 14 Sayuti Mohd Zahit (Mas) Putrajaya 15 Radius Ginting (Ina) Benteng Muda Selangor 16 Kin San Wu (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 17 Safwan Sawai (Mas) Malaysian National Team 18 Budi Santoso (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 19 Jared T Bunde (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 20 Stefan Rothe (Ger) Champion System Sommerville Sports 21 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Japan National Team 22 Badr Bhanihammad (UAE) United Arab Emirates National Team 23 Paul Griffin (Irl) Giant Asia Racing Team 24 Chun Te Ching (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing Team 25 Hossein Ashkari (IRI) Giant Asia Racing Team 26 Vyacheslav Dyadichkin (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 27 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Team Farso Cycling 28 Hari Fitrianto (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 1.11 29 Pol Nabben (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 30 Tong Yu (Chn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 1.22 31 Rizuan Zainal (Mas) Team Le Tua 2.13 32 Firdaus Daud (Mas) Putrajaya 2.26 33 Mohamad Anuar Mohamed Zam (Mas) Terengganu 5.03 34 Heksa P Prasetya (Ina) Indonesian National Team 35 Mohammad Partoui (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 36 Yevgeniy Yakolev (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 37 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 5.05 38 Kuei Hsiang Peng (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing Team 5.06 39 Parno (Ina) Indonesian National Team 40 Raziff Jaafar (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 41 Iwan Setiawan (Ina) Indonesian National Team 42 Md Asril A Rahman (Mas) Pahang 43 Harnizam Basri (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 44 Wang Yip Tang (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 45 Mohd Khairuz Abd. Ghani (Mas) Pahang 46 Sazlee Ismail (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 47 Ebrahim Hussein Ahmed (Brn) Bahrain National Team 48 Badr Shambih (UAE) United Arab Emirates National Team 49 Suhardi Hassan (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 50 Mohd Arif Syukri Ahmad Sabil (Mas) Terengganu 51 Khalid Shambih (UAE) United Arab Emirates National Team 52 Mohamad Faris Abd Razak (Mas) Malaysian National Team 53 Artemiy Timofeev (Rus) Polygon Sweet Nice 54 Hamid Shiri (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 55 Yan Dong Xing (Chn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 56 Taufiq Muhamad (Ina) Benteng Muda Selangor 57 Ching Man Chung (HKg) Champion System Sommerville Sports 58 Zaki Nasir (Mas) Team Le Tua 59 Agung Ali Sahbana (Ina) Indonesian National Team 60 Ahmed Al Doseri (Brn) Bahrain National Team 61 Haidar Ahmad (Mas) Team Le Tua 62 Amir Mustafa Rusli (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 63 Jamal Aldoseri (Brn) Bahrain National Team 64 Stanley Jalip Jr. (Mas) Putrajaya 65 King Wai Cheung (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 66 Mohd Yusof Abd. Nasir (Mas) Benteng Muda Selangor 67 Endra Wijaya (Ina) Indonesian National Team 68 Ting Pong Lam (HKg) Champion System Sommerville Sports 69 Weng Kin Thum (Mas) Malaysian National Team 70 Umardi Rosdi (Mas) Team Le Tua 71 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 72 Sayed Ahmed Alawi (Brn) Bahrain National Team 73 Mohd Rauf Nur Misbah (Mas) Malaysian National Team 74 Yoshiyuki Shimizu (Jpn) Japan National Team 75 Shah Adam Mohd Arifin (Mas) Pahang 76 Duaij Al Doseri (Brn) Bahrain National Team 77 Aang Zuanda (Ina) Indonesian National Team 78 David Sommerville (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 79 Mohd Akmal Amrun (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 80 Thomas Bencivengo (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 81 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Japan National Team 82 Kuan Hua Lai (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing Team 83 Herwin Jaya (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 84 Mohd Saiful Anuar Aziz (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 85 Mohd Saiful Fazli Zakaria (Mas) Pahang 86 Wibowo Adi (Ina) Benteng Muda Selangor 87 Najmee Wan Mohd (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 88 Fallanie Ali (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 89 Mohd Jasmin Ruslan (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 90 Mohd Hafiz Rozli (Mas) Pahang 91 Syed Mohd Hussaini Syed Mazlan (Mas) Terengganu 5.17 92 Jesper Norgaard Lund (Den) Team Farso Cycling 93 Soren B Petersen (Den) Team Farso Cycling 94 Kurniawan Kurniawan (Ina) Pahang 95 Loh Sea Keong (Mas) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 5.19 96 Iman Suparman (Ina) Benteng Muda Selangor 97 Ghader Mizbani (IRI) Giant Asia Racing Team 98 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Japan National Team 99 Wim Spijkerboer (Ned) Team Farso Cycling 100 Azizul Azli Shaari (Mas) Terengganu 101 Khairul Naim Azhar (Mas) Putrajaya 102 Fuad Daud (Mas) Putrajaya 103 Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Mas) Malaysian National Team 104 Mohd Harrif Saleh (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 105 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Team Farso Cycling 5.29 106 Fahmi Tajuddin (Mas) Putrajaya Sprints Lancang, 39 km 1 Yevgeniy Yakolev (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 5 pts 2 Kurniawan Kurniawan (Ina) Pahang 3 3 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 2 4 Mohd Jasmin Ruslan (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 1 Maran, 119.3 km 1 Anuar Manan (Mas) Team Le Tua 5 pts 2 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 3 3 Mohd Zamri Salleh (Mas) Terengganu 2 4 Budi Santoso (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 1 Gambang, 166 km 1 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Japan National Team 5 pts 2 Hossain Jahanbanian (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 3 3 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 2 4 Anuar Manan (Mas) Team Le Tua 1 Sprints Classification 1 Anuar Manan (Mas) Team Le Tua 6 pts 2 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Japan National Team 5 3 Yevgeniy Yakolev (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 5 4 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 3 5 Hossain Jahanbanian (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 3 6 Kurniawan Kurniawan (Ina) Pahang 3 7 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 2 8 Mohd Zamri Salleh (Mas) Terengganu 2 9 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 2 10 Budi Santoso (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 1 11 Mohd Jasmin Ruslan (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia 1 Malaysian Riders Classification 1 Anuar Manan (Mas) Team Le Tua 4.30.33 2 Mohd Zamri Salleh (Mas) Terengganu 0.02 3 Sayuti Mohd Zahit (Mas) Putrajaya 0.03 4 Safwan Sawai (Mas) Malaysian National Team 5 Rizuan Zainal (Mas) Team Le Tua 1.15 6 Firdaus Daud (Mas) Putrajaya 1.24 7 Mohamad Anuar Mohamed Zam (Mas) Terengganu 4.04 8 Raziff Jaafar (Mas) Kuala Lumpur 9 Md Asril A Rahman (Mas) Pahang 10 Harnizam Basri (Mas) Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia Teams Classification 1 Japan National Team 13.30.56 2 Hong Kong Pro Cycling 0.01 3 Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team 0.30 4 Giant Asia Racing Team 0.52 5 Polygon Sweet Nice 0.58 6 Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 1.15 7 Team Farso Cycling 4.46 8 United Arab Emirates National Team 4.53 9 Champion System Sommerville Sports 4.53 10 Team Le Tua 6.01 11 Putrajaya 6.14 12 Terengganu 8.51 13 Benteng Muda Selangor 8.54 14 Malaysian National Team 15 Indonesian National Team 12.52 16 Kuala Lumpur 12.55 17 Pahang 18 Bahrain National Team 19 Majlis Sukan Negara Malaysia
