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Monday January 14, 2008

Le Tua’s Tonton seals Tour of Malaysia title

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian team Le Tua were the biggest winner in the Tour of Malaysia after the seventh and final stage here yesterday.

Le Tua emerged as the best local team, finishing third overall with a time of 65'04:23 while their Indonesian rider Tonton Susanto sealed the individual title (red jersey) with a total time of 21'32:38.

Iran’s Tabriz Petrochemical won the team title with their time of 64'54:33, about 10 minutes ahead of Japan.

Tonton was also placed second in the King of Mountain category behind winner Hossein Askari of Tabriz Petrochemical.

“This is the first time I have won the best overall rider title in my career and I’m grateful to my team for their support and teamwork.

“I will stick with Le Tua and strive to better their position in the Tour of Langkawi next month,” said the 35-year old Tonton, who hails from Bandung.

Another Le Tua rider, Anuar Manan, 22, retained the sprint crown (blue jersey) with 29 points.

Yesterday's final stage, a criterium race over 60km finishing at Dataran Merdeka, was won by Yusuke Hatanaka from team Skil Shimano in 1'07:57.

No point was awarded for the sprints due to the rain which made the route slippery and dangerous.

Final results & standings

Final stage (Kuala Lumpur criterium 60km)

Top 10 finishers: 1. Yusuke Hatanaka (Skil-Shimano) 1'07:57, 2. Hossein Nateghi (Tabriz Pertrochemical), 3. Hari Fitriyanto (Polygon Sweet Nice) , 4. Mohd Rauf Nor Misbah (Malaysia), 5. Stefan Loffler (Giant Asia Racing) 1'08:14, 6. Ahmad Haidar Anuawar (Le Tua) 7. Cyrille Heymans (Differdange-Apiflo), 8. Masahiko Mifune (Trek Marco Polo), 9. Mohd Hariff Salleh (MCF), 10. Mehdi Sohrabi (Islamic Azad University).

Individual classification (red jersey): 1. Tonton Susanto (Le Tua) 21'32:38, 2. Ghader Mizbani (Tabriz Petrochemical) 21'32:49, 3. Frederick Johansson (Differdange-Apiflo) 21'36:54, 4. Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical) 21'37:49, 5. Suhardi Hassan (Kul) 21'39:00, 6. Dimitri Jiriakov (Stegcomputer-CKT) 21'39:39, 7. Paul Griffin (Giant Asia Racing) 21'39:46, 8. Hari Fitriyanto (Polygon Sweet Nice) 21'40:52, 9. Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia) 21'40:53, 10. David McCann (Giant Asian Racing) 21'41:20.

Teams overall: 1. Tabriz Petrochemical (Iri) 64'54:33, 2. Japan 65'04:08, 3. Le Tua (Mas) 65'04:23.

Sprint (blue jersey): 1. Anuar Manan (Le Tua) 29 pts, 2. Hossein Jahabanian(Tabriz Petrochemical) 21, 3. Suhardi Hassan (Kul) 15.

King of Mountain (polka dot jersey): 1. Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical) 16 pts, 2. Tonton Susanto (Le Tua) 8, 3. David McCann (Giant Asian Racing) 6.

Top local riders (white jersey): 1. Suhardi Hassan (Kul) 21'39:00, 2. Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Mas) 21'40:53, 3. Loh Sea Keong (Trek Marco Polo) 21'46:15. – Bernama

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