Syawal keeps faith as local teams come under pressure

Malaysia Pro Cycling rider Mohd Syawal Mazlin cooling himself during one of the stages in the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).

KUALA KUBU BARU: Local teams are starting to feel the pressure as the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) heads into its final stretch, with some still chasing their first podium finish.

Malaysia Pro Cycling’s (MPC) rider Mohd Syawal Mazlin however, is staying optimistic with only three stages remaining.

While admitting that his hopes of challenging for the white jersey as the best Asian rider is now out of reach, Syawal remains confident in his teammates’ chances as they continue with the hard work in today’s 123.5km route from Shah Alam to Port Dickson, which is expected to favour the sprinters.

“We still have three more stages to go, so we’ll be aiming to get on the podium in the sprint. We’ll try to protect our sprinter and bring him to the bunch sprint,” said Syawal.

“As for myself, I’m already out of contention in the Asian classification, so in the last three stages, I might try to go on a breakaway with a few other riders.”

There is some positive news for MPC as they still have all five riders in the race, unlike several other teams that have been reduced to just three riders, including KSPO Professional from South Korea and Chengdu DYC Cycling Team.

This is already an improvement from last year’s edition, when MPC were left with only four riders by Stage Six.

Commenting on yesterday’s fifth stage from Temerloh to Fraser’s Hill, Syawal, who was the best Malaysian finisher in last year’s Queen Stage to Cameron Highlands, said: “If we compare today’s climb with last year, I’d say it wasn’t as tough as people expected, but the real challenge was the road condition.

“The surface wasn’t great, and that made it difficult, especially trying to stay steady and avoid the potholes along the way,” added Syawal.