KUALA TERENGGANU – The continental-class cycling team, Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team (TSG) is betting on five local riders and four imported faces in three Turkish tour races starting tomorrow.
TSG team manager, Mohd Saiful Anuar Aziz said the five local riders who will take on the challenge are Wan Abdul Rahman Hamdan, Irwandie Lakasek, Muhammad Afiq Huznie Othman, Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin and Zuladri Amin Zulkurnain, a young rider from TSG Cycling Academy, had already left for Turkey, on Monday.
The imported riders include Youcef Reguigui, Metkel Eyob, Jeroen Meijers and Anatoliy Budyak from Ukraine who specialise in mountain climbing, he said.
“The three races namely Erciyes Grand Prix, Kayseri Grand Prix and the Yahyali Grand Prix will be the platform for us to collect as many points as possible to defend our status as the best Asian team which we won last season.
"We will have two challenging races in a row, namely the Erciyes and Kayseri Grand Prix on July 23 and 24, while the Yahyali Grand Prix is on July 31," he said when contacted via WhatsApp today.
According to Mohd Saiful Anuar, for the race in Turkey this time, TSG is confident of meeting the target of two podium finishes out of three races based on the achievements and analysis of the race record experienced in the country previously.
However, he admitted that it was not an easy challenge as he had to compete against the nearest challenger, Almaty Cycling Team of Kazakhstan, which will try to close the current gap.
“So far TSG is still at the top of the Asian Tour with 863.75 race points, while our challenger, Almaty Cycling Team is in second place with 305.25 points.
"We will do our best to win and widen the gap with other challengers," he said, who will continue to camp in Turkey for a high-altitude training camp in preparation for the Le Tour De Langkawi (LTdL) tour in October. – Bernama, July 22, 2022
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