Azizul and Shah Firdaus to bring along cutting-edge bikes

WXR Vorteq

PETALING JAYA: It’s not a battle between men alone but machines too.

That is the case in cycling as the bike a cyclist uses will likely decide who emerges victorious in the Olympics track cycling competition in Tokyo and the Malaysian team do not want to be left behind in the bike technology war.

The team led by Azizulhasni Awang and Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom are bringing three WX-R Vorteq bikes each, which will be used to compete in the sprint and keirin at the Izu Velodrome outside Tokyo from Aug 2-8.

The groundbreaking bike, costing RM300,000 each, is a collaboration between the National Sports Institute (NSI) and Vorteq, a research and development company based in Silverstone and specialising in sports aerodynamics.

Azizul, the 2017 world champion keirin rider, said it was only the right thing to do for Malaysia to go down this route in order to take the fight to established cycling nations like Britain, Germany, Australia and Holland.

“Track cycling has become like Formula 1 where the fight is about marginal gains,” said Azizul.

Bike technology war: Team Britain’s track cycling bike for the Olympics. Inset: Azizul and Shah Firdaus will take the fight to their top rivals.

“It’s like preparing the best car and then it depends on the driver to produce the result.

“You can imagine what will happen if Lewis Hamilton does not have the best car prepared for him.”

The 33-year-old Azizul said the initiative to kickstart the project started right after his return from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where he bagged the first-ever cycling medal - a bronze - for Malaysia.

“I could have had a better chance to win the keirin but we were fighting against riders using custom-made bikes,” he said.

“So we actually sat down not long after I returned from Rio and started to work on the plan to prepare the stiffest but lightest bike for the next Olympic mission.

“I have tested the final version in the simulation practice we went through in training in Nilai recently.

“There is not much difference except some tweaks in the bike settings as we have to remove the power meter for actual racing.

“The old colour version is flat black but for the Olympics version, you have to wait and see when we race in Tokyo later,” added the two-time Asian Games champion.

Azizul and Shah Firdaus will take the fight to their top rivals.

Cycling powerhouse Britain fired the first salvo in the technology arms race when they introduced their track bike at the end of 2019.

The distinctive looking machine to be used by defending triple Olympics champion Jason Kenny, developed by Lotus Engineering, costs US$20,000 (RM126,285) and boasts a 3D-printed titanium frame with distinctive flared forks and seat stays.

“These countries usually develop their own track bikes and the catch is they need to use them at the UCI-sanctioned competitions nine months before the Olympics.

“For Tokyo, UCI have ruled that the track bicycle to be used at the Olympics needs to be commercially available to everyone in some shape or form.”

For Malaysian track coach John Beasley, the move forward was to be part of the evolution in cycling.

“The sport has become scientific and everyone is chasing after marginal gains using cutting-edge technology.

“We have to keep up with it,” added Beasley.