Adiq first Malaysian cyclist to reach Genting Highlands

Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) rider Mohammed Adiq Husainie Othman emerged as the best Malaysian racer to reach the top of Genting Highlands at the fourth stage of the 2014 Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL), here on Sunday.

The 23-year-old racer ended the competition from Subang to Genting Highlands, a distance of 110.9km, in 37th spot.

He recorded a time of three hours, five minutes and nine seconds, 10:25s behind the winner of the stage and the yellow and white jersey, Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour from the Tabriz Petrochemical Team.

The Iranian racer who was also Tour of Qinghai Lake champion last year recorded a time of 2'54:44s to win the stage.

"I felt the race today was really fast because 31 performed breakaways, the second group was also fast.

"My teammate, Saufi (Mohd Saufi Mat Senan) was a big help in determining the correct position for me at Genting Sempah. Thanks to all my team members," he said when met by reporters.

Nevertheless, Mohammed Adiq confessed he was not satisfied with the climb on Sunday.

"I feel my performance in climbing had dropped a bit but I tried my best to reach the top because I could close the gap for the overall position," said Mohammed Adiq who was in 32nd place in last year's edition with the Champion System Pro Cycling.

After ending the fourth stage of the race on Sunday, the TSG are in 19th place overall and sixth in Asia with an accumulated time of 37'15:44s.

Meanwhile, national team coach Aminuddin Sulaiman was satisfied with the achievement of his charges after completing the climb to Genting Highlands.

Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi, Suhardi Hassan, Mohd Rauf Nur Misbah, Mohd Nur Rizuan Zainal and Abdul Rashid Ibrahim completed the race in 39th, 45th, 54th, 74th and 105th positions, respectively.

"To me, Suhardi did a great job to finish among the top Malaysian riders. He arrived in a better position than Rauf and he was our saviour.

"Fauzan was actually further in front than Adiq. Maybe due to technical problem with his gear, Adiq managed to overtake him. There was only a 100m gap between Fauzan and Adiq to win the national championship sponsored by TM," he said.

After the fourth stage of the race, the Malaysian team are in 15th spot but have yet to reach the target of overall three top places in Asia.

The Malaysian team have an accumulated time of 37'06:15s for the fourth best place in Asia behind Indonesia.

According to Aminuddin, for the race tomorrow, the racers were free to find opportunities to collect points at the sprint zones.