January 30/02 3:19 am - Langkawi Only 48 Hours Away

Posted by Editor on 01/30/02
 

It is getting close to start time for the Tour de Langkawi - only 48 hours until the first rider rolls down the starting ramp for the first stage time trial. The TdL is now entering its 7th year, and continues to grow.

This year there are 22 teams participating - 7 Tier I, 7 Tier II, 7 national squads and one composite team. Interestingly, Saturn, who has attended every year since the inception, turned down their invitation. Mercury was not invited because their status with the UCI is still not finalized, and Prime Alliance was refused since they are only a Tier III squad There will not be a single American rider in the race, and the primary reason is security concerns in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Canada has eight riders in the race - 7 on the national squad, plus Dominique Perras riding for the new iTeamNOVA.com. Eric Wohlberg is a late addition to the national squad, replacing Alex Lavallee. Also worthy of special mention are mountain bike pros Ryder Hesjedal and Geoff Kabush, who are both riding in their first major road stage race. Ryder is NOT off to a good start - the airline has lost his bike...

The race has been dropped from 12 stages (plus a rest day) to 10 stages (no rest day). This year the race is being run in the south and western regions of the peninsula - Race Director Alan Rushton says that it will move back to the northern/eastern regions next year. The organizers have also brought in the timing system used in the past Vuelta (Tour of Spain), which has microchips attached to the fork of each bike. The promise is that full results will be generated more quickly and more accurately.

The final hour of each stage will be aired live in Malaysia and surrounding countries. Among the special guests attending the TdL is former World Hour Recorder holder Francesco Moser.

Some stats:

- Fourth richest prize list: for a stage $400,000 U.S.
- 1580 people in the race organization
- 500 vehicles
- Last year there were 32 accidents and 100 summons were issued by police (the press were the worst, according to the police - I can say that I was not one of them...)
- For 8 of the 10 stages a plane circles the race with a radio repeater, so that no matter how spread out the race gets, every vehicle can stay in touch.

The race begins on Friday (February 1st) with a 20.3 kilometre time trial in and around the town of Putrajaya - the administrative centre of Malaysia. The terrain is rolling, with lots of corners. Eric Wohlberg is expected to do well.

Start List

Index Alexia
1 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita)
2 Marco Battiston (Ita)
3 Alberto Elli (Ita)
4 Daniele Galli (Ita)
5 Antonio Salomone (Ita)
6 Eddy Serri (Ita)
7 Andris Reiss (Lat)

Mapei-Quick Step
11 Andrea Tafi (Ita)
12 Davide Bramati (Ita)
14 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita)
15 Robert Hunter (RSA)
16 Charles Wegelius (GBR)
17 Luca Scinto (Ita)
18 David Canada Garcia (Esp)

Credit Agricole
21 Jens Voigt (Ger)
22 Johan Charpenteau (Fra)
23 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra)
24 Ludovic Martin (Fra)
25 Benoit Poilvet (Fra)
26 Yan Tournier (Fra)
27 Cedric Herve (Fra)

Acqua & Sapone - Cantina Tollo
31 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr)
32 Claudio Astolfi (Ita)
33 Michele Scarponi (Ita)
34 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Esp)
35 Agustin Pena Gago (Esp)
36 Cesare Di Cintio (Ita)
37 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita)

ag2r Prevoyance
41 Linas Balciunas (Lit)
42 Laurent Estadieu (Fra)
43 Andy Flickinger (Fra)
44 Alexandre Grux (Fra)
45 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra)
46 Innar Mandoja (Est)
47 Nicolas Portal (Fra)

Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo
51 Nathan O'Neill (Aus)
52 Nicola Chesini (Ita)
53 Enrico Degano (Ita)
54 Stefano Guerrini (Ita)
55 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr)
56 Graeme Brown (Aus)
57 Cristiano Parrinello (Ita)

Lotto-Adecco
61 Mario Aerts (Bel)
62 Frederik Amorison (Bel)
63 Tom Stremersch (Bel)
64 Kevin Van Impe (Bel)
65 Fulco Van Gulik (Ned)
66 Stive Vermaut (Bel)
67 Wesley Van Speybroeck (Bel)

Telekom Malaysia
71 Graeme Miller (NZL)
72 Kam Po Wong (Hgk)
73 Kader Mizbani (Irn)
74 Ahad Kazemi (Irn)
75 Susanto Tonton (Ina)
76 Musairi Musa (Mas )
77 Rosli Nor Effendy (Mas)

Collstrop Palmans
81 Max Becker (Lux)
82 Tony Bracke (Bel)
83 Eric De Clercq (Bel)
84 Hans De Meester (Bel)
85 Bjorn Leukemans (Bel)
86 Karel Pauwels (Bel)
87 Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel)

Mobilvetta-Formaggi Trentini
91 Mario Traversoni (Ita)
92 Moreno Di Biase (Ita)
93 Filipe La Verde (Col)
94 Samuele Vecchi (Ita)
95 Orlando Mesa Meza (Col)
96 Uros Murn (Slo)
97 Denis Bondarenko (Rus)

Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada
101 Jorge Capitan (Esp)
102 David Fernandez (Esp)
103 Cesar Garcia Calvo (Esp)
104 Oscar Laguna (Esp)
105 German Nieto (Esp)
106 David Vazquez Garcia (Esp)
107 Jose Manuel Vazquez Palomo (Esp)

Team Fakta
111 Lennie Kristensen (Den)
112 Morten Sonne (Den)
113 Bjorner Vestol (Nor)
114 Rene Jorgensen (Den)
115 Jorgen Bo Petersen (Den)
116 Lars Bak (Den)
117 Allan Bo Andresen (Den)

Team Bonjour
121 Anthony Charteau (Fra)
122 Anthony Geslin (Fra)
123 Charles Guilbert (Fra)
124 Jimmy Engoulevent (Fra)
125 Mickael Pichon (Fra)
126 Jerome Pineau (Fra)
127 Thomas Voeckler (Fra)

Malaysia
131 Razali Shahrulneeza (Mas)
132 Tsen Seong Hong (Mas)
133 Mohd. Mahazir Hamad (Mas)
134 Jasmin Roslan (Mas)
135 Mohd. Azlan Jamaluddin (Mas)
136 Wong Ah Thiam (Mas)
137 Suhardi Hassan (Mas)

Colombia-Selle Italia
141 Hernan Dario Munoz (Col)
142 Juan Diego Ramirez (Col)
143 Fortunato Baliani (Ita)
144 Nauduzs/Andris (Lat)
145 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita)
146 Mykhaylo Khalilov (Ukr)
147 Ruber Marin (Col)

Team Nurnberger Versicherling
151 Artour Babaitsev (Rus)
152 Ronny Lauke (Ger)
153 Jurgen Pauritsch (Aut)
154 Dirk Schumann (Ger)
155 Holger Sievers (Ger)
156 Lubor Tesar (Cze)
157 Jurgen Werner (Ger)

iTeamNOVA.com
161 Jamie Drew (Aus)
162 Russell Downing (GBR)
163 Scott Guyton (NZL)
164 Dominique Perras (Can)
165 Brett Lancaster (Aus)
166 Trent Wilson (Aus)
167 Alan Iacoune (Aus)

South Africa
171 Douglas Ryder (SA)
172 David George (SA)
173 Rodney Green (SA)
174 Daniel Spence (SA)
175 Jacques Fullard (SA)
176 James Ball (SA)
177 Jeremy Maartins (SA)

Philippines

181 Victor Espiritu (Phi)
182 Warren Davadilla (Phi)
183 Arnel Quirimit (Phi)
184 Enrique Domingo (Phi)
185 Merculto Ramos (Phi)
186 Villamor Baluyott (Phi)
187 Emilito Atilano (Phi)

Japan
191 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn)
192 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn)
193 Tomoya Kano (Jpn)
194 Makoto Iijima (Jpn)
195 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn)
196 Shinich Fukushima (Jpn)
197 Koji Fukushima (Jpn)

Canada
201 Glen Rendell (Can)
202 Mark Ernsting (Can)
203 Andrew Pinfold (Can)
204 Geoff Kabush (Can)
205 Josh Hall (Can)
206 Eric Wohlberg (Can)
207 Ryder Hesjedal (Can)

China
211 Yajun Ma (Chn)
212 Guo Hui (Chn)
213 Guozhang Wang (Chn)
214 Shuhai Song (Chn)
215 Hongwei Li (Chn)
216 Yongbiao Zhu (Chn)
217 Xueli Jiang (Chn)