KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — The success of Russian rider Artem Ovechkin in winning the yellow jersey as the best overall rider in the 2018 Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) which ended at Dataran Merdeka today, has delighted his teammates in the Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG).
TSG captain Mohd Zamri Saleh described the success of the team as very meaningful to the team as it was won by a local team after being monopolised by European and Latin American riders since the prestigious race was introduced in 1996.
“Although he only had a brief training with his teammates in TSG before the start of the LTdL, he demonstrated high commitment to achieve success with TSG.
“He (Ovechkin) was always thinking of his chances of defending the yellow jersey before going to bed, but thank God, what we planned bore fruit,” said Mohd Zamri when met by reporters, here today.
Sharing the same view was his younger brother, Mohd Harrif who was delighted with Ovechkin’s success despite having to forget about his quest for a podium finish in the final stage today covering a distance of 141.1 km from Dataran Rembau to Dataran Merdeka.
“Indeed, I was quite sad that I was forced to forget the aspiration of hitting the podium in today’s race to ensure that the Russian rider retained the yellow jersey.
“However, I am happy because our team got the yellow jersey in the end after failing in several attempts previously,” said Mohd Harrif, who made two podium finishes in this 23rd edition of Asia’s leading cycling race.
Ovechkin won the yellow jersey despite finishing 37th out of 104 riders in the final stage of the 2018 LTdL today from Dataran Rembau to Dataran Merdeka, involving a distance of 141.1 km.
He clocked an overall 32 hours and 6 minutes and 45 seconds after completing the final stage of the 2018 LTdL. — Bernama
