After several months of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the wait seems to have been well worth it when the organisers of PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi 2022, Human Voyage (M) Sdn Bhd announced that six World Tour teams will grace Asia’s premier cycling tour with a status of 2ProSeries from 11 to 18 October 2022.
The six World Team teams that will compete in the eight-stage 1,183km tour starting in Kuala Lumpur and ending in Pulau Langkawi are UAE Team Emirates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Cofidis (France), Lotto Soudal (Belgium), EF Education- EasyPost (United States), Movistar (Spain) and Astana-Qazaqstan (Qazaqstan).
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of LTdL22, Shahaizereen Abdul Hamid said that they are very proud at being able to bring in six of the best professional teams in the World Team list of the International Cycling Union (UCI) this year, as they look to serve high-quality action to local cycling fans.
“Out of this six WorldTeam, five will be making their debut in LTdL as Astana Qazaqstan had participated several times previously.
“The participation of these top-class teams will make this year’s edition one of the best-ever organised in terms of the quality of participation of the world’s leading teams where it will present world-class competition to local and foreign cycling fans,” he said.
On the other hand, Shahaizereen said that three teams with ProTeam status had already confirmed their participation in the 26th edition of the tour this year after it was not organized in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The teams that will be making their way to Kuala Lumpur are Drone Harper-Androni Giacattoli from Italy who are among LTDL regulars, in addition to UNO-X Pro Cycling from Norway and also Alpecin-Deceuninck from Belgium.
“Currently, we are in the midst of confirming another team to fill the ProTeam slot and where we are hoping to get positive feedback pretty soon,” Shahaizereen added.
In the UCI Continental Teams division, the teams that will be part of the peloton this year are two local continental professional teams, Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team (TSG) and Team Sapura Cycling (TSC), two teams registered in Indonesia – Mula Cycling Team and Roojai Cycling Team; as well as ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast from Australia, China Glory Continental Cycling Team (China), ProTouch (South Africa) and Kuwait Pro Cycling (Kuwait).
Regional teams that will also be at the starting line are Thailand Continental Team (Thailand), Team UKYO (Japan), 7-Eleven Cliqq Air (Philippines) and the Malaysian national team.
LTdL22 will start with Stage 1 from Kuala Pilah to Kuala Lumpur for a distance of 157.3km; Stage 2 Kuala Klawang-Raub (178.9km); Stage 3 Putrajaya-Genting Highlands (123.7km); Stage 4 Sabak Bernam-Meru Raya (137.9km); Stage 5 Kuala Kangsar-Kulim (172.0km); Stage 6 Georgetown-Alor Setar (120.8km); Stage 7 Kuah-Gunung Raya (90.8km) and Stage 8 Loop Langkawi (115.9km).
