Picnic to rely on Fabio in Max’s absence at LTdL

At the helm: Team Picnic PostNL banking on Fabio Jakobsen’s experience for this year’s LTdL

PETALING JAYA: Dutch team Picnic PostNL will be banking on 2022 world champion Fabio Jakobsen to spearhead their challenge in this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) following the absence of last year’s overall winner Max Poole.

It is not only Poole who will be missing this time as the Holland-based team have also revamped their entire line-up, retaining only Bjorn Koerdl from last year’s squad.

Their new roster, however, is far from ordinary with Juan Guillermo Martinez, Bram Welten, Jurgen Zommermaand and Dillion Corkery joining Jakobsen.

LTdL chief operating officer Emir Abdul Jalal admitted that Poole’s absence would affect the excitement to some extent, but believes Jakobsen’s presence more than makes up for it as the Dutchman is widely regarded as one of the best sprinters in the world.

“Jakobsen is a big name. He has won a stage in the Tour de France and five in the Vuelta a Espana, including clinching the points jersey in 2021,” said Emir.

“With 46 career victories to his name so far, Picnic PostNL are clearly eyeing stage wins in their second appearance at LTdL.

“Besides Jakobsen, his teammate Welten also has vast experience and can be relied upon to lead him out in the sprints. In fact, Welten himself is also capable of pulling off a stage win,” said Emir.

Moreover, Emir believes Picnic PostNL will remain strong contenders for stage victories and the key jerseys throughout the eight-day race.

“It will be interesting to see how far Picnic PostNL can go in LTdL as they will face strong challenges across all eight stages, from the opener in Langkawi to the grand finish at KLCC,” added Emir

The LTdL will cover eight stages with a total distance of 1,243.5km, taking riders across every state in Peninsular Malaysia.