BINTULU: After witnessing some of the closest racing the tour has seen in recent years, the organisers of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) are looking to retain the two climbing stages format used this year for next season.
LTdL chief operating officer Emir Abdul Jalal said the two-climbs format made the competition in the general classification (green jersey) much more open this year.
The UCI ProSeries tour, which concluded in Sarawak yesterday (Oct 6), featured a hors categorie climb in Cameron Highlands (stage three) as well as a category one effort at Fraser's Hill (stage four) this season.
In the end, DSM-Firmenich PostNL's Max Poole (England) emerged the overall winner (green jersey) with a marginal 13 second advantage over second placed Thomas Pesenti (JCL Team Ukyo).
By comparison, Stephen Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) won last year's tour by a margin of 49 seconds after being the first rider to crest the summit at Genting Highlands.
"It was definitely a much more competitive and open race. Poole's position was never secure," said Emir yesterday (Oct 6).
"The GC teams were all on their toes even after the climbing stages as they did not want their rivals to collect bonus seconds and narrow the gap.
"The bigger teams all made sure they controlled the breakaways and were very selective with who they let go, which was not the case in recent editions.
"So actually without Genting Highlands, the race was even more challenging because everyone had a chance to win it. Even the sprinters competition was only decided on the last day.
"We will look at including Genting Highlands again next year but we will also try our best to include a second climbing stage."
In recent years, the race usually featured only one serious climb at Genting Highlands (hors categorie), which features steeper gradients than Cameron Highlands, but the gaming resort was left out this year due to scheduled roadworks there.
This year's sprinters competition also went to the wire as Italian Matteo Malucelli, who won three stages, pipped orange jersey defending champion Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) by only two points on the final day.
It was, however, a quiet outing for the three Malaysian teams - Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG), Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) and the national team - competing this year.
Crashes involving six Malaysian riders in stage two (Arau-Butterworth) hampered their efforts while five Malaysian riders also finished over the time limit (OTL) in stage four (Kuala Kubu Bharu-Bentong) and thus were forced to sit out the remaining stages.
Emir said Malaysian teams must be better prepared to face back-to-back climbing stages next year.
"I think the Malaysian teams' preparations were not sufficient to face the two climbing stages this year," said Emir.
"We always release the race route early and I hope they will be better equipped to face such challenges next season."
The National Sports Council (NSC) organised the race for the second edition in a row this year and will also organise the race next season.
Emir disclosed that the race had cost roughly RM22 million to run this season.