KUALA LUMPUR: After budget constraints saw its namesake island being dropped from the race route last year, Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) is set to come back in a big way this year (Sun 29-Oct 6) both in terms of excitement and cost.
The National Sports Council (NSC) - organisers of the tour - disclosed that the cost to organise the eight stage race will definitely exceed RM15 million this year.
NSC director general Abdul Rashid Yaakub said this is due to the inclusion of Langkawi (stage one) and Sarawak (stage seven and eight) this year.
"I am not able to reveal the actual figure just yet because it can change from time to time, however, the cost will be more than last year, more than RM15 million," said Rashid in a press conference in Bukit Jalil today.
"A lot of it is due to logistics costs because we have to cross the sea to go to Langkawi and Sarawak.
"With RM15 million we could probably only do about four or five stages and would likely be limited to only Peninsular Malaysia."
For last year's race, the government had approved funding of RM8 million while roughly RM7.8 million in sponsorship was raised. The actual cost of organising the race last year, which was limited to Peninsular Malaysia, is unknown.
Rashid said NSC is not able to disclose how much sponsorship has been raised for this year's LTdL just yet.
"We will announce the figure once everything has been finalised. We still have a month to go before the race and are still negotiating with a number of sponsors," he added.
NSC today welcomed Tourism Malaysia as the title sponsor for the LTdL polka dot jersey today which is to be worn by the leader of the mountains classification. It is also known as the king of the mountains category.
The sponsorship deal with Tourism Malaysia is valued at RM1 million.
LTdL 2024 stages:
Stage 1 (Sep 29): Langkawi round island (96.5km)
Stage 2 (Sep 30): Arau to Butterworth (154.5km)
Stage 3 (Oct 1): Taiping to Cameron Highlands (170.3km)
Stage 4 (Oct 2): Kuala Kubu Bharu to Bentong (131.2km)
Stage 5 (Oct 3): Kuala Lumpur to Melaka (167.3km)
Stage 6 (Oct 4): Batu Pahat to Kulai (123.4km)
Stage 7 (Oct 5): Miri to Bintulu (199.3km)
Stage 8 (Oct 6): Bintulu loop (147.5km)
ENDS
KW: Sports, cycling, Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, National Sports Council, Abdul Rashid Yaakub