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21 APRIL 2009
TANAH MERAH: As expected Iranian riders dominated Stage 3 of Jelajah Malaysia 2009 today which includes Cat 1 climb from Gerik to Tanah Merah.
Team Azad University Continental, Hossein Nateghi won the third stage while his fellow rider Abbas Saeditanha kept the red polka dot jersey (KOM).
Hossein, 22, led the first bunch of 33 to the finish in 4hours 5minutes and 30 seconds.
"Today my team work hard dominating the third stage and I am ecstatic with today’s win. The sprint towards finish is not an easy feat as there are vother sprinters such as Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical) and also Rafai Chtioui (Doha)," he quoted.
As for Abbas, he take that today’s stage is one of the hardest in JM2009.
"This jersey is important to us Iranian riders and I am happy to keep it. Hopefully I manage to keep it in the next stage," he mentioned.
Today’s stage gave the opportunity to the climbers to show their might at three climb zones of East-West Highway, before ascending to the peak of Bukit Banding of 1,054m finally at the Perak/Kelantan border.
Tabriz Petrochemical rider Mehdi Sohrabi kept the yellow jersey as he recorded 12hours 41minutes and 43seconds ahead of Rafai and Abbas who were both in second and third place respectively with a time difference of 15seconds and 19seconds.
"Other riders were great in today’s race especially at the climb. I did my best during the sprint and never expected to keep it," he mentioned.
The Iranian rider also kept the green jersey as the sprint king with an accumulative 15points regardless that he didn’t get to add any points during two sprint zones in Bukit Bunga and Batu Gajah.
Previous edition Best Malaysian rider, Suhardi Hassan of the National Team managed to get his hands at the white jersey (RTM) as Stage 3 Best Malaysian Rider.
"My team and I tried our best to get a good position in the first bunch at the finish line along with fellow rider Muhamad Rauf Misbah. However I was left behind and I hope that I managed to maintain the time difference to ensure not to be left behind," he mentioned.
Even though he was aiming for the yellow jersey in JM2009, Suhardi had to admit defeat despite his effort as he was left behind by the Iranian riders at the climb zones.
Stage 4 of JM2009 will be from Pasir Mas to Kuala Terengganu with a total distance of 177.5km featuring three sprint zones in Kuala Besut, Penarik and Wakaf Tengah.
JM 2009 organised by Ten Speed Events Sdn Bhd features 21 teams comprise of Malaysian National Team, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia B, LeTua Cycling Team, Terengganu Toshiba-Bike Labz, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM), Jelly Belly Cycling Team (USA), Azad University Continental Team (Iran), Savings & Loan Cycling Team (Australia), Shimano Racing Team (Japan), Polygon Sweetnice Team (Indonesia), Tabriz Petrochemical Team (Iran), Aisan Racing Team (Japan), Ride Sport Racing (Australia), Giant Asia Cycling Team (Taiwan), Bridgestone Anchor (Japan), Trek Marco Polo Cycling Team (China), Doha Team (Qatar), Tinelli Colossi Cycling (New Zealand) dan JazySports Beacon (Phillipines).
JM 2009 is an eight-stage race of 1,240km in total distance with Stage 1 starting from Kuala Selangor to Ipoh, Stage 2 (Ipoh - Sungai Petani), Stage 3 (Gerik - Tanah Merah), Stage 4 (Pasir Mas - Kuala Terengganu), Stage 5 (Kuala Terengganu - Kuantan), Stage 6 (Kuantan - Bera), Stage 7 (Tanjung Malim - Genting) before ending the race in a Criterium race in Dataran Merdeka.
