KUALA LUMPUR – As an all-rounder, Manuele Tarozzi of VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane has surprised many sprints experts last year when he won Stage 6 of the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi (PLTdL) 2024. It was a great moment which he will never forget.
As the PLTdL2025 approaches, scheduled to be held from September 28 to October 5, the 27-year-old rider from Faenza, Italy will once again be the Italian ProTeam’s best hope for another surprise victory.
This year, in addition to several flat stages, the route for Stage 5 which is from Temerloh to Fraser’s Hill, is considered ideal for Tarozzi’s climbing abilities, giving him a strong chance to challenge for the overall individual Green Jersey, sponsored by PETRONAS.
Tarozzi, a two-time participant in the Giro d’Italia, has been in excellent form this season. He won the King of the Mountains title at Tirreno Adriatico earlier this year and finished fourth in the Giro’s King of the Mountains classification last May.
At PLTdL this year, he will be supported by two other climbers in the team, Luca Covili and Alex Tolio who are also part of the squad managed by Mirko Rossato.
Both Covili and Tolio are familiar with racing in Asia. Covili, 28, was with Bardiani during the PLTdL23, while Tolio, 25, recently competed in the 2025 Tour of Qinghai Lake where he finished sixth in the overall individual classification.
Leading Bardiani’s charge on the six flat stages of PLTdL25 will be Mattia Pinazzi, Enrico Zanoncello and Lorenzo Conforti.
Pinazzi, who had three fourth-place finishes last year, is eager to secure a podium spot this year. Zanoncello, a former Cofidis rider also raced in the Giro this year.
PLTdL25 Chief Operating Officer (COO), Emir Abdul Jalal stated that Bardiani, one of the most frequent teams in the PLTdL, is looking to restore its dominance in Asia’s top tour, echoing their performance nearly 20 years ago.
“This team, founded in 1982, has been known by several names, including Scrigno-Gaerne, Ceramica Panaria, Colnago CSF and Green Project-Bardiani. But many still remember their incredible dominance at LTdL2005 when they won seven out of 10 stages,” said Emir.
“With Graeme Brown (5 stages) and Guillermo Bongiorno (2 stages), local cycling fans will also recall the team’s ‘orange train’ that moved so quickly which was almost impossible for any other team to take the lead in the main group near the finish line.
“With three riders capable of sprinting, it’s not impossible for Bardiani to repeat that same performance and rack up several stage victories in this year’s race,” Emir added in a press statement today.
The 29th edition of the PLTdL is an eight-stage race that will start in Langkawi Island and finish at KLCC, covering a total distance of 1,243.5 km across all 12 states in Peninsular Malaysia.
PLTdL25, which has a 2.ProSeries status on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, is organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) through the National Sports Council (MSN) in collaboration with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).
The race will begin in Langkawi Island on September 28 with the first stage covering a distance of 96.5 kilometers (km) followed by Stage 2 from Padang Besar, Perlis to Kepala Batas, Penang (170.1km);
Stage 3 from Gerik, Perak to Pasir Puteh, Kelantan (198.2km); Stage 4 from Kuala Terengganu to Kemaman (140.8km); Stage 5 from Temerloh to Fraser’s Hill, Pahang (133.7km); Stage 6 from Shah Alam, Selangor to Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan (123.4km); Stage 7 from Melaka to Medini, Johor (214.6km) and Stage 8 from Tangkak, Johor to Kuala Lumpur (180.5km) on October 5.
VF GROUP-BARDIANI CSF-FAIZANE SQUAD
- LORENZO CONFORTI (ITA)
- LUCA COVILI (ITA)
- MATTIA PINAZZI (ITA)
- MANUELE TAROZZI (ITA)
- ALEX TOLIO (ITA)
- ENRICO ZANONCELLO (ITA)
