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KUALA LUMPUR:- The nation’s oldest cycling race, the Jelajah Malaysia, broke new ground today as it allowed the inclusion of a 21st participating team after initially declaring a field of 20 teams during its launch on 17 March 2009. The latest addition to the starting list was announced by the event’s Executive Chairman, Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz at a press conference here today.
“The technical committee decided to allow the participation of Team Bridgestone Anchor of Japan after considering the merits of their application and the added value of having more of Asia’s top riders in the field,” he said.
He said that despite the significant expense, the team had also agreed to bear their own travel costs and pay a token late registration fee, in order for them to add the race in their competition calendar. Astaman also disclosed that Bridgestone Anchor’s line-up would comprise of seasoned riders Makoto Iijima, Masamichi Yamanoto, Masaru Fukuhara, Sho Aikawa, Shinpei Fukuda and Yoshiaki Shimada.
“As organisers, we were quite flattered by the insistence of Team Bridgestone Anchor to participate in the Jelajah Malaysia, and I think this marks a significant departure from the event’s previous reputation, as I still recall the difficulty with which our technical team had to face in getting top flight teams to come during the first year of our (Ten Speed Events’) management of the race,” Astaman added.
Astaman also revealed that with the inclusion of Team Bridgestone Anchor, the Jelajah Malaysia now has a total of 14 participating UCI Continental teams, which along with three national teams and seven club teams, making it one of the most significant races in Asia in terms of participation.
“This is by far the most competitive field we’ve had and coupled with the 2009 route, we believe that Malaysian fans of cycling are going to be treated to an amazing Jelajah Malaysia this time around,” he said.
The number of rider nationalities is also at its highest for this edition of the Jelajah Malaysia, with the 126 riders coming from 23 countries spread over 5 continents and marking the event as a truly global one for the first time in its history.
The local challenge will be represented by the Malaysian National team, continental teams MNCF Continental Team and Letua Cycling Team, and club sides Terengganu Toshiba-Bike Labz and the Malaysian Armed Forces.
Other teams participating teams are 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) and Doha Team (Qatar), the national teams of Indonesia and Thailand, and club teams, Tinelli Colossi Cycling from New Zealand and JazySports Beacon from the Philippines.
With a total distance of 1240km, Jelajah Malaysia is expected to kick off from Kuala Selangor to Ipoh on the 19th of April 2009, and will travel in a clockwise direction from the north to the East Coast before culminating in the Kuala Lumpur Criterium on the 26th of April 2009. Stage Two will see the riders making their way from Ipoh to Sungai Petani before travelling to Gerik for the start of Stage Three and the first climbing stage of the tour, and the stage finishes at Tanah Merah. Relatively flat routes for Stage 4 (from Pasir Mas to Kuala Terengganu), Five (Kuala Terengganu to Kuantan) and Six (Kuantan to Bera) await the sprinters as they try to regain their positions before the queen stage from Tanjung Malim to Genting Highlands on the 25th of April and the expected showdown of sprinters for the Kuala Lumpur Criterium on the last day.
