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Jelajah Malaysia Executive Chairman Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz said that even though the drastic step of postponing the race had to be taken in view of grim economic conditions for sponsorship, this year’s event will make up for the delay with a total of eight stages, one day up from the previous years’ seven stages.
“The route for the edition was determined after taking into account the feedback from teams and officials, and the total race distance of 1240 kilometers will test all the 120 individual competitors from the 20 invited teams to their limits.”
“On another note, we are also extremely proud that in two short years, the Jelajah Malaysia was considered for an upgrade from its present 2.2 categorisation to the more prestigious 2.1 category by the International Cycling Union. However, the timing was not really appropriate and we made the painful decision to decline the offer in order for us to maintain the standard which we have set for ourselves based on the current sponsorship climate,” he said.
The 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 fro the Kuala Lumpur Criterium.
Present for the official launch of the race’s 2009 image and route presentation was the Youth and Sports Minister, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, which was held at the grounds of the National Sports Institute (ISN) in Bukit Jalil.
“The administrative and financial support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the organisation of the Jelajah Malaysia has increased tremendously over the years, and the only way for us to repay this trust will be to deliver the best race possible.”
It will be an uphill task for our local riders, as this is the first time that the Jelajah Malaysia will feature two Category 1 (at the Titiwangsa mountain range and Genting Highlands respectively), but we have faith in our boys, and we believe that a few of them will surprise us as the race progresses,” Astaman added.
A total of RM280, 000.00 will be up for grabs as the prize money, the largest ever in the history of the race, and is a direct consequence of the upgrading of Malaysia to the Asia ‘A’ classification by the International Cycling Union. Astaman said that he hoped the larger pot would spur Malaysian riders to give their all and make the most out of their participation.
Leading the Malaysian challenge for 2009 will be the Malaysian National Team and the Malaysian National Cycling Federation Continental Team, together with continental outfit LeTua Cycling Team. Rounding it off are the Terengganu State Cycling Team and first-timers the Malaysian Armed Forces Cycling Team.
The rest of the field will comprise of 11 continental teams from three continents, namely the Savings and Loan Cycling Team (Australia), the Jelly Belly Cycling Team (USA), the Azad University Continental Team (Iran), the Shimano Racing Team (Japan), the Polygon Sweetnice Team (Indonesia), the Tabriz Petrochemical Team (Iran), the Aisan Racing Team (Japan), Team Ride Sport Racing (Australia), Giant Asia Cycling Team (Chinese Taipei), the Trek Marco Polo Cycling Team (China), and the Doha Team (Qatar), the national teams of Indonesia and Thailand, and two club teams, Tinelli Colossi Cycling of New Zealand and the JazySports Beacon Team of the Philippines.
