KUALA LUMPUR – The 29th edition of the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi 2025 (LTdL25) set to kick off from September 28 to October 5, will feature three WorldTeam (WT) and eight ProTeam (PT).
Rounding out the list of 22 competing teams for the eight-day race are 10 Continental teams and one national team, Malaysia.
The three confirmed WorldTeam are XDS Astana Team from Kazakhstan, Team Picnic PostNL (Netherlands) which was known as DSM-Firmenich PostNL last season, and Cofidis (France).
National Sports Council (NSC) Director General, Jefri Ngadirin stated that the number of WorldTeam is the same as the elite teams that participated in the PETRONAS LTdL last year.
Among the eight ProTeam, six of them also compete in the three Grand Tours – TotalEnergies, 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 ProTeam are newcomers from France, Unibet Tietema Rockets and Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini (Italy).
“With a total of nine teams that have competed in the Grand Tours, we can expect a fierce and exciting race every day – from Stage 1 in Langkawi Island to the conclusion of Stage 8 in front of the Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC) in Kuala Lumpur.
“Although there will be no Hors category climb to Genting Highlands for the second consecutive year, Stage 3 (Gerik-Pasir Puteh) and Stage 5 (Temerloh-Bukit Fraser) will be the battle grounds for the overall individual classification and the King of Mountains jersey.
“In fact, the battle is expected to be drawn out until the final day as Stage 7 involves the longest ride which is 214.6km from Melaka to Medini, Johor in addition to the final stage of 180km from Tangkak to KLCC,” said Jefri during the press conference announcing the participating teams for PETRONAS LTdL 2025 today.
The eight-day race will also be heated up by 10 Continental teams including two local teams -Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) and Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) – in addition to the national squad.
The seven other Continental teams are familiar faces in this Asia ProSeries tour namely 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 a new team, Chengdu DYC Cycling Team (China) – making its debut appearance.
“Even though each team has yet to provide their full list of six riders who will be competing, we believe LTdL25 will still attract many cycling fans because the quality of the competition is considered fierce, high and excellent on the Asian stage.
“Even the organisers themselves are anxious to see the final list of riders from each team because based on those names, we can predict each team’s strategy and goals, whether they aim to win stages, hunt for the overall individual classification, overall team standings, the King of Mountains jersey or the Sprinter’s jersey,” added Jefri.
Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the LTdL25, Emir Abdul Jalal said that the organisers have not yet confirmed whether Team Picnic PostNL will include last season’s overall winner, Max Poole in their team to defend the green jersey for the individual classification this year.
“However, we believe this year’s competition will still be a major draw because the team has listed its formidable sprinter, Fabio Jakobsen while Uno-X has listed Alexander Kristoff in its preliminary lineup and Tudor has placed sprinter Alberto Dainese.
“For us, this is a great honor because the competition will also be joined by three big names who have a collection of victories in the Grand Tours and various European tours and one-day classics, which will simultaneously raise the profile and image of the LTdL itself,” he added.
Jakobsen, 31, has a collection of 46 career victories so far, including two in the Tour de France (2022) and five stages in the Vuelta (2019-2021) in addition to winning the Vuelta Sprinter’s title in 2021 and various other Sprinter’s jerseys like the Volta a Algarve, Tour of Hongrie and Tour of Belgium.
Kristoff, who is now 38 years old and has worn the jerseys of top teams like BMC Racing Team, Team Katusha, UAE Team Emirates and Intermache-Wanty Gobert, has accumulated victories in four stages of the Tour de France (2014-2020) as well as in tour races and one-day classics like Milan-San Remo (2014), Gent-Wevelgem (2019), Tour of Flanders (2015), GP Quest France (2015) and Classica de Almeira (2022).
As for the Italian-born rider, Dainese, 27, he has two stage victories in the Giro d’Italia (2022 and 2023) and one stage in the Vuelta 2023 while with Team Sunweb.
“The 29th edition of LTdL25, which will traverse all the 12 states in Peninsular Malaysia with a total distance of 1,257.8km, is still considered one of the most prestigious tours on the Asian continent based on the number of WorldTeam (WT) and ProTeam (PT) entries”, said Emir.
For comparison, Emir said, other Asian ProSeries tours this year like the Tour of Qinghai Lake only feature one WorldTeam and eight ProTeams; the Tour of Hainan (1WT/4PT) while the Tour of Taihu Lake (1WT/2PT).
LTdL25 which has ProSeries status on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, is organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) through the National Sports Council (NSC) in collaboration with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).
LIST OF COMPETING TEAMS IN PETRONAS LTdL 2025
- XDS Astana Team (Kazakhstan)
- Team Picnic PostNL (Netherlands)
- Cofidis (France)
- VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane (Italy)
- Team Polti VisitMalta (Italy)
- Burgos-BH (Spain)
- Unibet Tietema Rockets (France)
- TotalEnergies (France)
- Tudor Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland)
- Uno-X Mobility (Norway)
- Team Solution Tech-Vini Fantini (Italy)
- Terengganu Cycling Team (Malaysia)
- Malaysia Pro Cycling (Malaysia)
- Nusantara-BYC (Indonesia)
- HKSI Pro Cycling (Hong Kong)
- Aisan Racing Team (Japan)
- KSPO Professional (South Korea)
- Chengdu DYC Cycling Team (China)
- St George Continental Cycling Team (Australia)
- 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines (Philippines)
- Thailand Continental Cycling Team (Thailand)
- Malaysian National Team
