Having enjoyed what was arguable his best season ever that included an overall win in the Tour de Pologne, Pieter Weening will again prepare himself in the race that set him up for success 12 months ago, the Tour de Langkawi. After finishing 2nd last year, the Dutchman is keen to do even better in Malaysia and leads a strong Orica-GreenEDGE team that will also have sprinter Aidis Kruopis on board and allow Juan Esteban Chaves to make his long awaited return to competition.

While the 2013 overall winner Julian Arredondo from Colombia has moved on to Trek Factory Racing and confirmed his talent by winning stage 2 of the Tour de San Luis that opened the 2014 season on the America Tour, runner-up Peter Weening will make his return to Le Tour de Langkawi with the clear intention of stepping up to the top position when the race will come to a conclusion in Kuala Terengganu on March 8 after a ten day journey from the Paradisiacal island of Langkawi.

The last Dutchman to have won a stage at the Tour de France (in 2005) is also a former pink jersey wearer at the Giro d’Italia (in 2011) and last year’s overall winner of the WorldTour race Tour de Pologne. He has fallen in love with Malaysia and asked the management of his Australian team Orica-GreenEdge to include him in their line-up again.

 “After finishing second last year, Pieter wants to go one step higher”, explained team manager Shayne Bannan who has been a long-time supporter of the Asian H.C. race since he directed the Australian Institute of Sport on these roads in 1998.

Orica-GreenEdge also features Colombian super climber Juan Esteban Chavez who won the Tour de l’Avenir in 2011 following the path of his compatriot Nairo Quintana. But his capacities to perform remain unknown as he sustained a terrible crash at the Laigueglia Trophy in Italy in February last year and hasn’t raced again since.

“Weening is definitely our GC contender”, Bannan continued. “He really enjoyed Le Tour de Langkawi last year. His pre-season is going a lot better than what it was last year. Chavez will support him up to Genting Highlands [the race's queen stage] and he’ll use this race to build his confidence for the future.”

Orica-GreenEdge will also take a sprinter on board as they see “a lot of opportunities for [Lithuania’s] Aidis Kruopis” who will have the crème de la crème as a lead out man, with Brett Lancaster who won stage 3 from Tapah to Raub ten years ago and escorted Graeme Brown to his numerous Malaysian successes.

The Australian outfit will also have two time triallists to reel in breaks and prepare for bunch sprints with U23 world champion Damian Howson and Sam Bewley.

“In Malaysia, we always enjoy the good weather and the excellent level of organization”, Bannan mentioned. “It’s a fantastic event to prepare for the rest of the season.”

“This is a super team”, noted chief operating officer Emir Abdul Jalal. “We couldn’t hope for a better support from Australia’s only World Tour team. In their second participation, we can be sure that they have all it takes to handle the pressure of being hot favorites for the race.”

ORICA-GREENEDGE FOR THE 2014 LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI:

BEWLEY Sam (NZL), CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban (COL), KRUOPIS Aidis (LTU), LANCASTER Brett (AUS), WEENING Pieter (NED), HOWSON Damien (AUS)