Guardini’s the man to beat in Tour of Langkawi

KUALA LUMPUR, 1 Mac -- Pelumba pasukan Astana Pro Team, Andrea Guardini (depan) meraikan kemenanganya setelah menguasai perlumbaan pada peringkat ketiga perlumbaan Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2014 dari Kampar ke Kuala Lumpur sejauh 166.5 km di sini, hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2014) HAKCIPTA TERPELIHARA

KUALA LUMPUR: Italian Andrea Guardini of Astana will be the cyclist to beat in the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL), which begins on Feb 24.

The sprinter has won a total of 18 stages since making his debut in the Tour in 2011.

Last year, he won four out of the eight stages.

LTdL chief executive officer Emir Abdul Jalal said that the 26-year-old Guardini will again start as the top sprinter in the eight-stage LTdL.

“He has proven to be the best sprinter in the LTdL since 2011, so it will be interesting to see if the other riders can beat him to any of the stages,” said Emir.

A total of 22 teams, comprising 11 pro teams and 11 Asian teams, will be vying for the total prize money of RM960,000.

Emir has also told local cycling fans to watch out for the KSPO team from South Korea.

“They’ve been training in Malaysia for a month now and they’re serious about upsetting the world tour team riders on the way to winning a few stages,” he said.

The KSPO team will be led by Seo Joon-yong, who won Stage Five of the LTdL last year. The others in the team are Park Sung-baek, Gong Hyo-suk, Kim Kun-soo, Kim Hyeon-seok and Joo Kang-eun.

“It would be good to see an Asian team challenging teams from Europe, North and South America, Africa and Oceania,” said Emir after receiving a sponsorship of 96,000 bottles of E’den mineral water from Darulkhusus Venture Sdn Bhd for the LTdL.