Golden sweep for Selangor in road cycling

SEPANG: It continued to rain gold for Selangor in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) men’s road cycling competition as they swept the mass start road race individual and team events in Bagan Lalang.

Team captain Nasrul Firas Ridzuan turned out to be the star again as he won the individual road race, taking his gold tally to three so far.

Nasrul pipped Johor’s Nazirul Aniq Abdul Rahman in a two-man sprint towards the finish line.

Terengganu’s Saniy Syuaib Mohd Safiee, who arrived five seconds later, completed the individual category podium.

The 127.7km race, which started and ended in Bagan Lalang, had gone through various areas in Kuala Langat and Sepang with mixed weather conditions.

The 21-year-old Nasrul, who won the team time trial title on Monday, was grateful to deliver for the state again under difficult circumstances.

“It was a tough race. First it was really hot, then it rained, then it was hot and then it rained again,” said Nasrul.

“There was initially a successful breakaway from a group of 20 over riders roughly 60km into the race. We (Selangor) had three riders in the breakaway, so I just stayed in the peloton.

“But then, Sarawak pushed to catch up with the group as they did not have riders in the break, so we ended all back together. Roughly 20km from the finish though, three of us pulled away until the finish and I was able to out-sprint them.”

Selangor and Johor were even on time in the team category but it was the former who got the gold as their riders had better finishing positions.

Selangor, also comprising Hareez Naufal Syanizam, Darwisy Hakimi Zarin, Danish Haiqal Zarin, Taufik Adnan and Fahmi Saharil, took the team gold on 8:34:16s.