LANGKAWI: The fourth Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) will be best remembered for Japanese rider Kohei Yamamoto’s breakthrough to clinch the men’s Open overall title.
The 28-year-old from Hokkaido is the first Asian to win a mountain bike championships featuring the world’s top-ranked riders.
Yamamoto only won one of the five stages, but his consistent performance throughout the tournament led to his triumph.
Yamamoto will now need to prove that his Langkawi success was not a flash in the pan, and that he can excel in the cold weather in the Western hemisphere as well.
“Racing in the LIMBC is very tough because of the hot and humid conditions, and the slippery muddy tracks. I faced the same gruelling conditions as everyone else, and won entirely because of my riding abilities,” said Yamamoto.
American Lea Davison, Yamamoto’s Specialized Racing team-mate, also seemed to have cracked the code of taming the racing conditions in Langkawi to bag her second straight women’s Open overall title.
On the local front, there was nothing much to shout about for the Malaysian riders.
The best Malaysian performer was Masziyaton Radzi, who finished 13th overall in the women’s Open.
The 25-year-old Kedah SBS Giant rider could only finish second in the best Asian female category behind her 11th placed arch-rival Kusmawati Yazid of Indonesia.
The Malaysian’s target was to finish ahead of Kusmawati to gain a psychological edge for the SEA Games in Myanmar in December.
Masziyaton had also settled for the silver behind Kusmawati in the Indonesia SEA Games two years ago. Most of the South-East Asian riders were present in Langkawi.
“This result is not going to change my target for the SEA Games, which is to win the gold medal,” said Masziyaton.
“The LIMBC is my final competition before competing in Myanmar. I will now work harder in the final phase of my training programme with the hope of turning the tables on Kusmawati in December.”
On the men’s side, Masziyaton’s Kedah SBS Giant team-mate Shahrin Amir did well to be the only Malaysian rider to qualify for Saturday’s men’s Stage 5 Race A involving the top 20 riders. However, he failed to clock a time after being lapped by the leaders.
The best advice on how the Malaysian mountain bike riders can match their Western counterparts came from an unlikely source – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the LIMBC patron.
“We need to find tall cyclists to compete with the best in the world. I saw that the winners, including the champion from Japan (Yamamoto), were very tall.
“The Malaysian riders have a disadvantage because they are short. We need to find tall cyclists and groom them to become future champions,” said Dr Mahathir after presenting the prizes to the overall winners on Saturday.
In terms of the organisation of the LIMBC, there is plenty of room for improvement despite the championship being held for the fourth time.
The biggest grouse for the competitors was the lack of signs marking the race route. It led to riders taking wrong turns and wasting their time and efforts to get back on track.
The organisers deflected the blame on the riders. “We put up adequate signs at various points along the route. We cannot place race marshals to stand the whole day in remote jungle areas along the course,” said Datuk Malik Mydin, the CEO of race organisers Human Voyage Sdn Bhd.
“The onus is on the riders to follow the signs and pick the right trail.
“Getting lost and finding their way out is part of the mountain bike racing experience. It makes the entire ordeal more interesting.”
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