CyclingQuotes.com What the Langkawi stars had to say

ANUAR MANAN

RIDER PROFILE

PIETER WEENING

THEO BOS

TOUR DE LANGKAWI

27.02.2014 @ 09:47 Posted by Emil Axelgaard

Today the Tour de Langkawi kicks off with a mostly flat stage and as usual the 10-day race shapes up to be a paradise for the sprinters. On Sunday the GC riders will battle it out on the feared Genting Highlands and a host of strong climbers will be looking to succeed Julian Arredondo on the winners list. Yesterday the pre-race press conference was held and we have gathered a few quotes from some of the race's major stars.

Hot favorite Peter Weening (Ned, Orica-GreenEdge):

“Last year it was my first time in Malaysia and I came second in Le Tour de Langkawi. I hope to do better this year! For many of the Europeans, it’s the first race of the year. I don’t know how good my shape is. In my preparation, I’ve been dealing with food poisoning and crashes but now I’m feeling good. Stage 4 to Genting Highlands will be the main stage for the overall classification.”

Sprinting star Theo Bos (Ned, Belkin):

“I’m glad to be back here after winning two stages last year but unfortunately I couldn’t complete Le Tour de Langkawi due to illness. Looing at the map, there’s a potential for a lot of bunch sprints, probably eight or nine out of ten stages. I haven’t won a race yet this year but I rode the Tour of Qatar and the legs were feeling good. This is a great event for us because we’ll do a lot of kilometers in ten days of racing and there are good teams lining up. It’s a different style of racing compared to Europe because of six riders per team rather than eight or nine. At Belkin, we have a well balanced team with excellent lead out men for me. It’s great to have an Olympic champion, Graeme Brown, and the individual pursuit world record holder Jack Bobridge in front of me before sprinting but there’ll be a big competition between all the teams who came here with a sprinter. I’ve seen in Qatar that [Orica-GreenEdge’s] Aidis Kruopis is in very good shape. Andrea Guardini should be as good as usual and also Francesco Chicchi.”

Malaysia’s only LTdL stage winner [in 2010] Anuar Manan (Terengganu TSG):

“There is a strong field of sprinters in this race this year, especially Theo Bos, Andrea Guardini, Francesco Chicchi… My aim is to win a stage. I’m back with TSG and I believe in my team. We’ll base our tactic on two sprinters, Harrif [Salleh] and myself.”

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