The Tour de Langkawi

Cycling is an immensely popular sport in Malaysia. In spite of the Malaysia’s year-round hot and humid conditions, cycling enthusiasts of all ages and levels, enjoy traversing Malaysia’s excellent network of palm-tree lined, flat, paved roadways considered to be extremely conducive to cycling. Accordingly, Malaysia hosts various major cycling events like ACC Track Asia Cup, Le Tour de Langkawi, and the Melaka Chief Ministers’ Cup, amongst others which attract throngs of domestic and international participants.

The biggest of all these various cycling events that are held in Malaysia, is a biennial, tourney called Le Tour de Langkawi. This demanding event was born out of an idea in 1996, suggested by the then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad. The competition was named after its first origin, a starting point on the beautiful isle of Langkawi, but in recent years the race has not featured Langkawi at all. The initial years of this grueling multi-day cycling event was marred by many disruptions, caused by adverse weather conditions and logistical difficulties, but soon these were ironed out and recent editions of the challenge have been relatively incident-free.

The Tour de Langkawi, is today included as part of  the UCI Asia tour, and it is the only Asian cycling race to have garnered the prestigious two hors category (2HC) badge that indicates that it is a multi-day race for Elite Men. The competition involves a fierce contest for four jerseys, though down the years, the colors of these jerseys have often been altered to suit the preferences of the sponsors. At stake this year, were the Yellow Jersey (General Classification), the Green Jersey (Points Sprint Winners), Red Polka-Dot Jersey (King of the Mountain Winners) and Blue Jersey (The Best Asian Riders). Each individual category featured a winner, though there were also additional contests for titles like Best Asian Team and the Best Overall Team.

The 18^th edition of the Tour de Langkawi featured a strong international presence with Five WorldTour teams and riders, who hailed from thirty nations around the world. The route of the race featured many territorial trials as it crisscrossed seven Malaysian states and territories, namely: Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor,  Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.  The various individual stages of the race ranged from 110km to 168km, and it is believed that all the cyclists by the end of the race had covered a total of 1467 kms over a period of 10 days.

The end of the ten day competition saw Nippo-De Rosa's Julian Arredondo emerge triumphant in the individual category, while MTN-Qhubeka team were declared overall winners in the team competition.

Tour de Langkawi  Stages in 2013
Stage 1: Kangar - Kulim     162.7 km
Stage 2: Serdang - Kuala Kangsar     116 km           
Stage 3: Sungai Siput - Cameron Highlands     145.4 km   
Stage 4: Tapah - Kapar     168 km           
Stage 5:, Proton - Genting     110.3 km           
Stage 6: Mentakab - Kuantan     212.8 km           
Stage 7: Kuantan - Dungun     149.8 km           
Stage 8: Kuala Terengganu - Tanah Merah     164.5 km       
Stage 9: Pasir Puteh - Kuala Berang     123.6 km           
Stage 10: Tasik Kenyir - Kuala Terengganu Loop     114.8 km