KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu Cycling Team's (TSG) new signing Adne van Engelen got his season off to a bright start at the Tour of Sharjah which concluded in the United Arab Emirates yesterday (Jan 28).
The Dutchman managed a commendable third-place finish in stage four, which featured a number of climbs, from Kalba to Khor Fakkan (132.3km).
Van Engelen would concluded the five-stage, UCI 2.2 tour a decent seventh in the general classification, a minute and 33 seconds adrift of overall winner Josh Kench (Li Ning Star).
The 31-year-old said it was a positive start to the season and is hoping to achieve much more with TSG this year.
"I think it was a very good race for us, (we were) not good enough to win but third in stage four is still a great way to start the season," said Van Engelen.
"I am still getting used to the new bike and new equipment and hope we will be up for way more (success) this season."
Kee Zhe Yie, Zuladri Zulkarnain, Wan Abdul Rahman Hamdan, Hariff Saleh and Anatolii Budiak (Ukrain) had raced alongside van Engelen for TSG at the Tour of Sharjah.
Sprinter Rahman also had a decent outing in the UAE, placing fourth during stage two and 13th in stage five.
Van Engelen had joined TSG from Thai continental side Roojai Insurance at the end of last season. He was in strong form last year, claiming general classification victory at the Tour of Thailand (UCI2.1).
He is one of four foreign riders TSG have roped in for this season.
Vadim Pronskiy (Kazakhstan) and Stefan de Bod (South Africa) were signed from World Tour teams Astana Qazaqstan and EF Education-EasyPost while Mathias Bregnhoj (Denmark) was signed from Portugese continental team Sabgal-Anicolor.
Terengganu's other squad, which includes de Bod, is currently competing in the AlUla Tour (UCI 2.1) in Saudi Arabia.