BATU PAHAT, June 27 — Huon Salmon-Genesys Wealth Adviser rider, Aaron Donnelly of Australia won Stage Two of the 2013 Jelajah 1Malaysia (2013 JIM) cycling competition from Rembau, Negeri Sembilan to here, today.
The 22-year-old Australian took four hours, 44 minutes and 53 seconds to complete the 197.6km route, the second longest route of this year’s race.
“This is not my first stage win and I am happy to win the race here. The race was tough but I managed to pass through the leading group of 14 riders. With five kilometers to go, I launched an attack to the finish line,” he said.
Netherlands rider Lex Nederlof of CCN Cycling Team, the oldest rider in the competition at 47, finished today’s race in second position, just 0.03 seconds behind the stage winner while Malaysia’s Loh Sea Keong of OCBC Singapore Continental Cycling Team finished third after clocking 4’45:02s.
Despite finishing third, Sea Keong hogged the limelight when he moved into the overall lead and snatched the yellow, green, blue and white jerseys.
He claimed the yellow jersey after accumulating 8’58:50s after two races while the overnight leader settled in third position with a time of 8’59:31s.
“This stage is actually meant for sprinters...with lots of flat terrain. I managed to claim the bonus point at the finish line (for the green jersey).
“When I was leading the group, I just looked at the other six riders in the group and about 10km before the finish they started attacking. I just followed them and got help from other Malaysian riders in the group for the yellow jersey win today. I would like to thank them for that,” said the 26-year-old Kelantanese.
The other Malaysian riders in the front group were Mohamad Faris Abdul Razak from Polis Diraja Malaysia and Muhamad Rauf Nur Misbah of the Malaysian National Team.
Tomorrow’s Stage Three from Batu Pahat to Pontian, a distance of 94.7km, would be the shortest route in this year’s 2013 JIM.
The route would once again suit sprinters with two sprint zones at Tampin and Segamat. – Bernama
