BINTULU: From being called into the team at the eleventh hour, to clinching the first general classification victory of his career, British rider Max Poole is the overall champion of this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
The Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider claimed the green jersey (overall winner) with a total time of 26’27:44 after eight stages of riding from Langkawi all the way to Bintulu yesterday.
The 21-year-old Poole was roped into the team to replace Frank Van Den Broek for the World Team, and his debut LTdL couldn’t have gone any better for the young rider.
“I’m super happy, of course, this is a huge milestone for me, it’s also my first professional win and my first general classification win,” said Poole.
“Hopefully I can take some confidence out of it for my races in the coming years.”
Poole had also taken the Stage 3 win from Taiping to Cameron Highlands, in what many considered to be the toughest stage due to the intense climbing.
Although he joined the team late, Poole said he took it as an opportunity to showcase his talent in unfamiliar territory.
“We had some line-up changes, and I found myself on the start list for LTdL. It was an opportunity for me in the end and I was happy to come here and try to see what I could do,” he said.
Racing for the first time in Malaysia, Poole said the heat wasn’t the big focus for him, but instead, the humidity was the main factor.
“The weather here is definitely different from what I’m used to. Not necessarily how hot it is, but the humidity,” he said.
“There are other races that are hotter, but everything here feels a lot thicker because of the humidity.
Moving forward, Poole said he has one more race in China at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi in two weeks before the year ends.
“I’m not looking too far into the future at the moment, my team and I will enjoy this win, but we have one more race before we can fully relax and enjoy ourselves,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stage 2 and 7 winner Matteo Malucelli of JCL Team Ukyo took the Stage 8 win, as he also took the orange jersey (best sprinter) ahead of Tudor Pro Cycling Team’s Arvid De Kleijn, while Astana Qazaqstan Team’s Gleb Syritsa is third.
The white jersey (best Asian rider) went to JCL Team Ukyo’s Manabu Ishibashi, while teammate Yuma Koishi took second place ahead of Aisan Racing Team’s Keigo Kusaba.
The polka dot jersey (king of the mountain) was claimed by Burgos-BH’s Mario Aparicio Munoz who had 27 points, while Poole came in second with 22 points, and Astana Qazaqstan Team’s Anthon Charmig had 12 points to take third place.
– The Star
