Skip to main content

LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI: Arredondo leaves rivals trailing

  .

Julian David Arredondo celebrates winning Stage Five of Le Tour de Langkawi yesterday. Pic by Hasriyasyah Sabudin

CUSHION: Colombian wins race to summit of Genting Highlands in style despite wet and cold conditions

JULIAN David Arredondo put himself in a commanding position  when  he left  the big guns trailing as he took victory in cold and wet conditions at the summit of Genting Highlands in Stage Five of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) yesterday.

   The Colombian, riding for Japanese UCI Continental outfit Team Nippo-De Rosa, not only erased  the two minutes and 43 seconds deficit he had on the previous overall leader, Wang Meiyin of Hengxiang Cycling Team, but dominated  the treacherous Genting climb to put a sizeable cushion between the  pack and himself in the general classification.

   Arredondo now holds a one minute and 22-second advantage over second-placed Peter Weening of the Orica-GreenEdge team, who tried in vain to stay with the pint-sized Colombian as he powered towards the summit from his decisive attack,  10km from the finish.

   The 110km stage started at the Proton Centre of Excellence in Subang Jaya.

   Arredondo's healthy lead could prove significant as Team Nippo, who  include very experienced hands in Fortunato Baliani, Shinichi Fukushima and Manabu Ishibashi, work to defend what could emerge as an historic first overall victory  by an Asian team and also a first by a third tier UCI Continental Team.

   "Today (yesterday) our plan was to first look at how the yellow jersey holder Wang Meiyin was riding and how he was behaving.

"I had my teammate (Fortunato) Baliani with me and we attacked together with 10 kilometres to go," said Arredondo, 25, who is only in his second year as a professional.

   "After we had jumped,  I was left alone with a good gap and I just kept my momentum until the finish.
   "I have won some amateur races in Italy and only started as a professional with Team Nippo last year and I won the Japan Cup.

   "So,  this is surely the greatest win of my career. My teammates are all riding well, so I hope we'll be able to defend this jersey in the coming stages and take the overall victory."
   Arredondo also took charge of the mountains classification lead with 45 points, just one ahead of previous leader Meiyin with five stages to go.

   Meiyin, who created history by sweeping all four leaders' jerseys after winning the Cameron Highlands stage on Saturday, is left to defend only the Asian riders' classification which will come under severe attack from the Tabriz Petrochemical team in the coming days after Amir Kolahdozhagh cut that lead to a mere five seconds by finishing sixth yesterday.

   Meiyin finished 20th yesterday, five minutes and 13 seconds behind Arredondo whose  only serious challengers in the final five kilometres were Weening, who finished 26 seconds behind and RTS Racing's Victor Nino who finished third, 44 seconds adrift.

   There will be little time for respite from yesterday's tough stage as the peloton heads into the longest stage of this year's Tour, the 217.5km Stage Six from Mentakab to Kuantan.
The stage takes the riders through some tough undulations,  which puts Arredondo's lead under threat by breakaway attempts.


By ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL | arnaz@nstp.com.my 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
12 comments
Read more

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

KBS realistik

TERUJA...Shabery (dua dari kanan) melancarkan Logo Tahun Industri Sukan 2011-2012 di Casa 1, MSN, semalam.    KETIKA beberapa sukan utama diletakkan sasaran meraih pingat khususnya emas di Sukan Olimpik 2012 London, penyertaan bola sepak dan hoki sebagai keluarga baru program Road To London pula dilihat sekadar membantu mereka melepasi kelayakan. Mungkin bersikap lebih realistik dengan keupayaan kedua-dua sukan itu di pentas lebih tinggi, Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek mahu segala bantuan diberikan kepada sejumlah 50 pemain bola sepak dan hoki kebangsaan bagi membolehkan mereka tersenarai sebagai kontinjen ke London. “Bagi acara hoki dan bola sepak, kita tidak boleh melihat bantuan perlu diberi selepas mereka layak tetapi kita akan cuba bantu mereka supaya mereka layak. “Tiada kompromi terhadap misi mendapatkan emas pertama tetapi sasaran kita tahun ini ialah mendapatkan seberapa ramai atlet ke Sukan Olimpik,” katanya selepas mempen...
Post a Comment
Read more