BENTONG – Five Malaysians were among 19 riders disqualified from the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2024 after failing to finish Stage 4 from Kuala Kubu Bharu to Bentong within the allotted time on Wednesday.
The five were sprint specialist Mohd Harrif Saleh from Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG), Muhammad Fahmi Khairul and Mohamad Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil from Malaysian Pro Cycling (MPC), Zulhelmi
Zainal of Nusantara Cycling Team, and Abdul Azim Aliyas from the Malaysian National Team.
Other notable names who failed to make the cut included the 2023 edition champion, Simon Carr from the U.S.-based team EF Education-EasyPost.
The race, which covered a distance of 131.2 kilometers featuring three sprint zones and one climbing zone at GAP, also saw Ng Pak Hang from HKSI Pro Cycling Team unable to finish.
Despite the setbacks for the five local riders, Mohamad Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff of TSG, who was crowned as the King of Sprints in LTdL 2020 and 2022, can take pride in being the best Malaysian rider in Stage 4 by finishing at 25th position with a time of 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 37 seconds.
“Personally, I’m very satisfied with today’s result. Tomorrow there’s another climbing stage, and I will try to achieve a good result for the team and the country,” Aiman said.
Commenting on the situation at the end of Stage 4, Aiman noted: “The EF Education-EasyPost rider (Stefan De Bod) was very aggressive, possibly to improve his team’s overall position. This made the race very fast.
“However, those who broke away were caught 600 meters from the finish line,” explained Aiman, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday.
Stage 5 on Thursday will start from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur (KLCC) to Melaka over a distance of 167.3 kilometers, featuring three sprint zones in Semenyih, Seremban, and Rembau, along with three climbing zones in Ampang, Bukit Hantu, and Mantin.
