Sports

Thursday February 23, 2012

Battle royal from the start

By SHAMSHUL FITRI


SEPANG: The opening 20.3km individual time trial will be crucial for contenders of the general classification in the Tour of Langkawi (LTdL), which starts tomorrow.

Garmin-Barracuda time trial specialist David Zabriskie feels that even he can’t afford to be relaxed ahead of the opening stage in Putrajaya “as the outcome can be detrimental to the general classification challenge”.

“It’s still important, although we will have the mountain stage (Genting Highlands) later. The distance of 20.3km is not short and we could see some gap in the classification,” said Zabriskie, who arrived with team-mate Tom Danielson from Los Angeles yesterday.

“But we are not allowed to race on time trial bikes and that would be something we have to work on.”

All set to ride: Tom Danielson (left) and David Zabriskie from the Garmin-Barracuda team arriving at the KLIA yesterday to take part in the Tour of Langkawi which starts tomorrow. — DARRAN TAN / The Star

United States time trial champion Zabriskie was not with his Garmin-Barracuda team-mates in southern Spain for their winter training camp. Instead, he trained at home in California, where team-mate Danielson was also going through the paces.

Danielson echoed Zabriskie’s sentiment, playing up the importance of chalking up a good time in the opening stage.

“Genting will definitely determine the general classification title but doing well in the time trial is just as important. I love to race here and I would like to perform well this time,” said the 2003 winner.

“It is the start of the year and I don’t know what kind of shape the other riders are in but, as for me, I’m in good shape for my first race of the year.

“I didn’t join my team-mates in Europe because I’m starting my race here and it would mean a couple of long flights to get here and I would also have to deal with jet-lag.”

Danielson enjoyed a great Tour de France debut last year when he finished ninth overall. Although creeping into his 34th birthday (on March 13), he is hungry for more success this year.

In the 2003 LTdL, Danielson raced under the Saturn banner and finished third in the 9.5km time trial opening stage with a 14-second advantage over eventual runner-up Hernan Dario Munoz (Colombia-Selle Italia).

Danielson then finished second – one second behind Munoz – atop Genting on the penultimate stage that saw him retain the yellow jersey as the overall leader until the end. Munoz finished as runner-up just nine seconds behind.

“If I can do well in the time trial and then Genting, I may have a shot at the title. But there are a lot of good riders coming here so we will have to see,” said Danielson.

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