KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) will be looking to continue leveraging their cooperation with Spanish side Caja Rural-Seguros RGA after TSG riders achieved positive results in the recently concluded Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
TSG’s Nur Aiman Rosli, Nur Aiman Zariff, Kee Zhe Yie, Stefan de Bod, Mathias Bregnhoj, Vadim Pronskiy and Anatolii Budiak were sent for a month-long training-cum-competitions stint in Spain which began in late July.
Aiman Rosli secured TSG a well-deserved podium finish in the seventh stage (Melaka-Medini) of LTdL last week while Zhe Yie, who competed for the national team, won the Most Combative Rider daily award during stage six (Shah Alam-Port Dickson).
Aiman Rosli also wore the white jersey (Asian riders’ classification) for two stages before it was taken over by Vadim. The latter, however, suffered a crash and was forced to abandon the tour.
Zhe Yie is currently loaned out to Caja Rural’s feeder team, Caja Rural-Alea, in Spain.
TSG chief operating officer Nasiruddin Wan Idrus was pleased with his riders’ performances during LTdL.
“We made a big investment by sending our riders to camp in Spain for a month and we can see the results now,” said Nasiruddin yesterday (Oct 5).
“Our riders’ condition throughout the whole tour has been better than it was in previous editions.
“Aiman Rosli showed what he is capable of while Zhe Yie also performed very well for the national team.
“We began our programme with Caja Rural about four months ago and we will continue sending our riders to Spain.
“Zhe Yie joined them (Caja Rural-Alea) two months ago and we have also taken in one of their riders, Juan Pedro Lozano, who has already raced twice for us.
“Our cooperation with Caja Rural is on a rolling basis and will also include coaching programmes.”
Nasiruddin added that TSG has plans to expose Aiman Rosli to higher level competitions in a bid to turn him into a contender at the Asian Championships and Asian Games level.
Aiman narrowly missed out on the mass start road race podium after finishing fourth in the bunch sprint at last year’s Asian meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
– NST
