KUALA LUMPUR: Cyclist Shah Firdaus Sahrom is all set for a "mad experiment" at the Track Champions League (TCL) series in Europe from Nov 23 to Dec 7.
The prestigious five-leg series begins in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, on Nov 23, followed by two back-to-back stops in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on Nov 29-30, and two legs in London on Dec 6-7.
Six Olympic champions, including Dutch great Harrie Lavreysen, five world champions and six continental champions will be among those vying for the champions' blue jerseys that distinguish the champions.
The Johor-born Shah, nicknamed 'The Terminator', earned his TCL berth after reaching the Paris Olympics keirin final. He was invited to compete in the 2022 TCL but had to turn it down due to family matters.
Shah, who will leave for Brussels today, is the second Malaysian after Azizulhasni Awang, who ranked eighth in the 2022 edition, to compete in the TCL.
National coach Harnizam Basri said: "We are going to compete against the giants of the sport and for us anything goes.
"We are planning to test out a few strategies during the TCL because it's the best platform for it.
"There are a few races in the TCL, so it's a good opportunity to see the different things we can do. We can attempt to sprint early after the derny too... there are so many things that we can experiment with in the TCL.
"Shah is coming back from 10 days of not getting on the bike during his umrah trip. We need to be careful on building him back for the races, but we have five days to prepare him before the TCL starts. The timing is not ideal to get the best performance out of him because of the circumstances but we are looking to make the best out of this assignment."