KUALA LUMPUR: The possible absences of overall champion Max Poole and 2023 sprint winner Simon Pellaud from Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) is not expected to dampen the excitement of the 29th edition, scheduled from Sept 28-Oct 5.
LTdL chief operating officer Emir Abdul Jalal said this year’s race promises to be intense with the participation of 22 teams, comprising three World Teams, eight Pro Teams, 10 Continental teams and the Malaysian national squad.
The three World teams confirmed for the race are XDS Astana Team from Kazakhstan, Team Picnic PostNL (Netherlands) — known last season as DSM-Firmenich PostNL — and Cofidis (France).
“We believe this edition will still draw strong attention as these teams have listed top sprinters such as Fabio Jakobsen, while Uno-X has included Alexander Kristoff in its provisional line-up and Tudor has named Alberto Dainese.
“For us, it is a great honour as the race will feature three big names who have recorded victories in Grand Tours as well as various European tours and one-day classics, further enhancing the profile and image of LTdL,” said Emir.
Six of the eight Pro teams have also competed in the three Grand Tours — Total Energies, Tudor Pro Cycling Team and Uno-X Mobility (Tour de France), VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane and Team Polti VisitMalta (Giro d’Italia), and Burgos-BH (Vuelta a España).
The other two Pro teams are new French outfit Unibet Tietama Rockets and Italy’s Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini.
The race will also feature 10 Continental teams, including two local sides — Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) and Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) — along with the national squad.
Seven other Continental outfits familiar to this ProSeries Asia tour are Nusantara-BYC (Indonesia), HKSI Pro Cycling Team (Hong Kong), Aisan Racing Team (Japan), KSPO Professional (South Korea), St George Continental Cycling Team (Australia), 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike (Philippines) and Thailand Continental Cycling Team (Thailand), as well as newcomers Chengdu DYC Cycling Team (China), making their debut appearance.
Covering all 12 states in Peninsular Malaysia over a total distance of 1,257.8 kilometres, LTdL 2025 remains among the most prestigious tours in Asia, as reflected by the number of participating World and pro teams.
– NST
