The 11 Asian teams at the Tour de Langkawi
Who is going to make a splash from the smaller teams at the Tour de Langkawi 2023? The Malaysian race is a major event in a packed autumn Asian schedule.
The Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia is one of the biggest races on the Asian scene every year. It’s 2.PRO UCI status attracts big teams in search of points, and it provides warm weather racing as the leaves begin to turn in Europe.
The race will likely be dominated by the big teams like EF-Education Easypost and Astana Qazaqstan. From those squads, Alexander Cepeda and Vadim Pronskiy will be big favourites for the race as the GC is decided on the famous Genting Highlands climb. Others such as Igor Arrieta, Paul Double and Mikel Bizkarra will also fight for the overall.
The seven likely sprint stages will also be in the control of the big teams. Arvid de Kleijn of Tudor, Gleb Syritsa of Astana Qazaqstan and George Jackson of Bolton Equities Black Spoke will be among the favourites.
Aside from being a stage for the big teams, this race is also an opportunity for the best Asian squads to showcase their talent. There’s only ever been one Asian winner of the race, Iranian rider Samad Pourseyedi in 2014. The GC field is weaker than last year, could one of the ‘local’ riders spring a surprise?
Asian riders have had much more success winning stages and chasing breakaways in recent years. They have a famously attacking style, so it’s always an active race.
At this race, Asian cycling seems to be in a healthy place. There are eleven Asian continental teams here, up from eight last year. They are motivated to show the world what they can do, it’s their biggest opportunity of the year.
You can watch the Tour de Langkawi live on GCN+. If you want to learn more about Asian racing, I’d advise you to tune in. No other race in South East Asia has anywhere near this kind of coverage. It’s an early morning race, so you can enjoy it with your breakfast.
Here’s a breakdown of the eleven Asian continental teams at the race:
MALAYSIA NATIONAL TEAM
Let’s start off with the home team. This squad is made up of riders from the recently defunct Team Sapura, which was a long standing Continental Malaysian team.
They look like one of the weaker teams on the start-list, but they do have some experienced names like Muhammad Mohd Shukri. He’s twice been top-10 at the Tour of Thailand. He’s a bit of a breakaway specialist, just like Malaysian TT champion Nur Aiman Rosli
Their sprinter this week will be Mohamad Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil. He’s had multiple stage top-10s at Tour de Langkawi and will hope for more of that again.
TERENGGANU POLYGON CT
The other Malaysian team in the race, and also the top UCI-ranked Continental team in Asia. A top-two ranking brings with it invites to all non-World Tour races in Asia, including the big Middle East races like the Tours of Oman and Saudi.
Terengganu are always active in this race and they have some real talent on their roster. Three quick sprinters will ensure that they are prominent on the flat days - of which there are many in this race. Mohd Harrif Saleh is one of the most prolific Asian riders in history, but has perhaps shown signs of slowing down this year. Dutchman Jeroen Meijers should be their main sprinter, supported by Algeria’s Youcef Reguigui. Meijers won a stage at the Tour of Taiwan earlier in the year.
The Mongolian Maestro, Jambaljamts Sainbayar, provides a genuine GC option for Terengganu, he was 9th last year. He can get in the mix if it gets messy too and is in form, having taken recent wins at the Tours of Huangshan and Iran. I expect big things.
JCL TEAM UKYO
The Japanese squad are currently lying in second place in the Asian team rankings, but they are some way off their Malaysian rivals this season.
They are led on the flat days by Dutch sprinter Raymond Kreder who could surprise the big teams.
Accompanying Kreder is five riders from Japan. Japanese champion Masaki Yamamoto is likely to lead their GC ambitions, he’s a strong climber and has had a good year.
Yuma Koishi is a versatile rider who I really like, I’d love to see him get his own opportunities. He’s the current TT champion of Japan and was 3rd in the Tour of Thailand earlier this season.
They are also giving a chance to two young Japanese riders, Riku Onaka and Hayato Uwano, who step up to this level for the first time.
ROOJAI ONLINE INSURANCE
Currently sitting in third on the Asia Tour rankings, Roojai have just over 100 points to make up to overtake JCL Team UKYO. With big points on offer here, it’s a big chance for the team from Thailand to make the top-two.
The team are managed by Peter Pouly, who may be the only person in history to have been convicted of two kinds of doping offences. He was suspended for a year between December 2002 and December 2003 for taking performance enhancing drugs. Then in 2016 was suspended again, but this time for mechanical doping offences.
Enough about that…
Roojai have a strong line-up for this race. Expect to see a lot of this jersey. The rider I expect we’ll see the most is the man nicknamed ‘Big Pol’ - Greek rouleur Polychronis Tzortzakis. He’s become something of a cult favourite for his attacking riding. He will be in multiple moves over the next week, guaranteed.
The team also have Ariya Phounsavath from Laos, who has been one of the top Asia Tour riders for many years now. Mongolia’s Tegshbayar Batsaikhan is another one to look out for, he won the Tour of Thailand this year after a crazy 30km solo in 40 degree heat. Both will hope to get up the road, or hang on for a top-20 GC position.
7 ELEVEN CLIQQ-AIR21 BY ROADBIKE PHILIPPINES
The Filipino team are here without their long-standing leader Marcelo Felipe. It gives their young-guns the chance to step up.
The rider on the best form at the moment is 22-year-old Rench Bondoc. He scored two top-10s in Tour of Poyang Lake II last week. Nichol Pareja is another who has been riding well this year. He was 11th at the Tour of Thailand earlier in the season.
I am told, however, that the most talented rider in this team is Ismael Grospe. He hasn’t shown that form this year yet, perhaps he’s saving it for this race. Grospe is an excellent climber and could be the surprise package on Genting Highlands.
GIANT CYCLING TEAM
Maybe the least experienced team in the race. None of these guys have ever raced outside of China.
Penghai Deng has been racing the longest and had some nice results at the Tour of Qinghai Lake last year, but that was when it was closed to riders from outside of China. Maybe he can infiltrate a breakaway.
Don’t expect much from these guys. They will do well just to make it through the eight stages.
HENGXIANG CYCLING TEAM
Hengxiang will be perhaps the most prominent of the three Chinese teams.
They have two Chinese riders on their team, the strongest being Dongyi Hou, the winner of a stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2021. Neither of their Chinese riders have raced outside of their home country before.
The team will be led by Romanian climber Cristian Raileanu, who is a well-known name if you follow eastern European racing. He was second this year in the Tour of Albania and third at Szekerland with a stage win. He also finished 7th here in 2019 in a slightly weaker field. A top-15 is possible.
Latvia’s Maris Bogdanovics will lead the team in the sprints. He had a couple of top-10s at the Tour of Taihu Lake last week.
KSPO PROFESSIONAL
It’s interesting to follow the growth of cycling in South Korea. They are a wealthy nation with a growing passion for the sport. South Korea could be a key nation for the growth of cycling in South East Asia, especially with a UCI World Cycling Centre satellite based there.
This team has one experienced rider, 28-year-old Donghyeok Choi who has some experience racing in other Asian nations, but not a lot.
Then they have two 20-year-olds and three 19-year-olds who have all raced just one event outside of South Korea. That was the Chengdu Tianfu Greenway race in China in April. The best among them there was 20-year-old Jinwoong Kim who placed 9th on stage one.
This is a weak team for this race. They will be hoping to survive. Hopefully the youngsters learn a lot and come back better for the experience.
LI NING STAR
The last of the Chinese teams is split in half: three Chinese riders and three internationals.
Of the Chinese men, 25-year-old Junqi Shao is likely to perform the best. Shao rode very well in April at the Chengdu Tianfu Greenway race to finish fourth, just behind Mongolians Jambaljamts Sainbayar and Tegshbayar Batsaikhan. This is Shao’s first race outside of China, so it will be interesting to see how he transitions.
Venezuelan climber Roniel Campos could make an impact on the race. Early this year, he finished 8th in the fearsomely mountainous Vuelta al Táchira and before that was a three-time-consecutive winner at that race. In July he started racing for Li Ning Star in China and took a solid 12th overall at the Tour of Qinghai Lake. If he’s on form, he’s a contender for the top-10.
29-year-old Belarusian Aliaksei Shnyrko will be the team’s sprinter.
NUSANTARA CYCLING TEAM
This Indonesian team follows the same format as many other Asian continental teams, bringing over experienced international riders to mentor local riders. Most of the teams at this race operate in the same way.
Nusantara come to Langkawi with an in-form Oscar Pachon as their rider for the GC. The Colombian was recently 7th at the Tour of Poyang Lake.
They also have Afiq Othman, a Malaysian rider who competed for Terengganu for many years. He will be active in the breakaways.
Of the four Indonesians, 22-year-old Prasetyo Firdaus seems to be the most promising. He was 16th at the recent Tour of Poyang Lake and featured in the breakaways there.
THAILAND CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM
This team are always active in South East Asian races. The riders are all military or police personnel, which means they are unable to sign for foreign teams, but do get a good Asian race programme.
Sarawut Sirironnachai is likely to be their most active rider. He will get involved in the sprints but is most suited to a breakaway. Ratchanon Yaowarat will also be seen up the road.
Their best climber is Thanakhan Chaiyasombat. ‘Frame’ as he’s more commonly known, does most of his training in the mountains of northern Thailand, which is great preparation for Genting Highlands. He’s had a good year, finishing 7th in the Tour of Taiwan, 12th in Huangshan and 9th in Iran.
Who from these Asian teams do you think is going to shine in Malaysia over the next week?
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