KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) is down to two UCI WorldTeams this year (Sept 28-Oct 5) as Cofidis have withdrawn from the tour.
LTdL chief operating officer Emir Abd Jalal, in a statement released today (Aug 23), said the French team has been replaced by Equipp Kern Pharma, which is a UCI ProTeam from Spain.
XDS Astana and Team Picnic PostNL are the two remaining WorldTeam squads in the UCI ProSeries tour.
“Cofidis contacted us on Thursday and we immediately approached Kern Pharma, who were one of four teams we had to leave out previously,” said Emir.
“Due to time constraints, we are unable to lobby another WorldTeam to come in as a replacement.
“Although we are a bit disappointed with the team’s (Cofidis) decision, we remain confident the excitement of LTdL will not be affected as Kern Pharma is also a great team.
“We have not yet received the list of riders Kern Pharma will bring, however, 2022 LTdL champion, Ivan Sosa, is on their roster.”
Sosa, who joined Kern Pharma this season, was riding for Movistar when he won LTdL in 2022.
Kern Pharma made their LTdL debut in 2023 when their rider Pablo Castillo finished third overall in the general classification.
They will be one of nine UCI ProTeam squads competing in LTdL this year.
VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane, Team Polti VisitMalta, Solution Tech Vini Fantini, Burgos Burpellet BH, Unibet Tietema Rockets, Total Energies, Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X Mobility are the eight other ProTeams.
NST
