The 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi will feature 20 teams from February 9 to 15, starting in Putrajaya, the home of Malaysian government, and finishing in the country’s capital Kuala Lumpur with the traditional criterium at Dataran Merdeka.
The sole Irishman in the line up will be Philip Deignan from Co. Donegal, but the Italian CSF team as listed amongst the 20 teams, have their offices in Ireland. So, naturally, fans in this part of the world will have a keen interest.
Philip has come a long way since he took up cycling with his local club, Four Masters CC, at the tender age of 14. Having no family connections whatsoever in cycling, nowadays it is very rare for a young boy to take up cycling on his own back. Philip got into it when he completed a charity cycle with a few of his friends for cancer research from Sligo to Letterkenny. “shortly after the charity cycle the Tour de France came to Ireland, I went down to Dublin to watch the prologue and then the first stage around Wicklow. I was blown away by it and as soon as I got home I was putting pressure on my parents to buy me a proper racing back. After a lot of pressure they finally caved in and we went down to the local bike shop.
You get a feeling from talking to Philip that he just isn’t quite happy with his career so far and that he is determined to prove himself further. As cyclists aren’t at their best until they are around 28 or 29 years old, there is still a couple of years before Philip’s full capabilities are known. However, it is obvious that he is definitely not going to stop him from wanting results right now. As he continues to progress, you can expect to see him alongside the defending Carlos Sastre in this years Tour de France, and representing his country in the World Championships in Switzerland where also Pat McQuaid will be seeking a second term as President of the Union Cycliste Internationale. Both Philip and Pat have a tough year ahead, but fingers crossed they'll come through in flying colours.
“The selection of the teams for the tour has been the hardest ever”, said the Chief Operating Officer Datuk Naim Mohamad. “We have received almost 50 bids from different teams from all over the world. It means the 7 days race format suits more teams than before. With a more compact field, we expect an even more challenging race.” As usual, the five continents will be competing in Malaysia for Asia’s biggest stage race.
“As we are aware of the importance of the Hors-Category status of our event, we have composed a balanced field with the priority being given to most competitive teams from Europe and America”, Naim added. “Although we are geographically far from the heart of cycling in Europe, we believe in the anti-doping policy put together by the UCI, the professional teams and the race organisers. We support the initiative of the biological passport. Therefore we have selected nine teams that adhere to the biological passport program and are eligible for the Grand Tours.”
Among these nine teams, four come from the Pro Tour circuit: Garmin-Chipotle from the USA, Ag2r and Bouygues Telecom from France, as well as Fuji-Servetto from Spain. The five Pro Continental teams are Diquigiovanni (Venezuela), CSF (Ireland), Vorarlberg-Corratec (Austria), ISD (Italy) and the Swiss-based Cervélo Test Team of Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
“We are very happy to welcome newly born and extremely promising teams like Cervélo and ISD”, Naim continued. “Two years ago we were the first organisers to invite Slipstream to a H.C. event because we thought this team had a fantastic future and we are delighted to see them coming back as Garmin-Chipotle with the prestige of being now one of the world’s most competitive teams for the Tour de France and the big classics.”
Event website - www.ltdl.com.my
Oceania and Africa will be represented in Malaysia by the Australian and South African national teams respectively. “Le Tour de Langkawi being organised by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF), we also believe in the good work done by some national federations in developing cycling”, Naim said. Other national teams from Asia will be: Malaysia, China, Iran and Kazakhstan while Asian continental teams will complete the line up: MCF and LeTua from Malaysia, Meitan-GDR from Japan, Seoul Cycling from Korea and the Doha Team from Qatar for which it will be a first appearance at Le Tour de Langkawi.
The 20 participating teams:
Garmin-Chipotle, Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Fuji-Servetto, Diquigiovanni, CSF, Vorarlberg-Corratec, ISD, Cervélo, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, MCF, LeTua, Meitan-GDR, Seoul Cycling, Doha Team.
