Malaysia welcomes it's best 9 cyclists and also (kind of a) local team in Sauber-Petronas for a hopefully interesting hilly road race and flat timetrial..
Anuar Aziz (Evian), Mat Senan (1t4i) and Zamri Salleh (Sauber) should be the favorites for the road race, while it all may depend on wether Sauber (5 riders) will make into the break or not..
And Sauber does, which is probably bad news for the remaining single-team's riders:
attacked the bunch for a succesful breakaway attempt - so three pure sprinters try their luck with an escape!
It ain't surprising to see the "bunch" sitting up and allowing a huge gap of more than 20 minutes.. it's up to the three sprinters in the leading group:
Awang (as the worst climber) tries to escape solo with 10km remaining - will the local team already succeed in the road race?
It ain't that easy, as Manan and Salleh pull him back with the flamme rouge approaching!
Three fast sprinters.. Manan as the best on short climbs.. Awang with a narrow lead.. Salleh with.. legs..
Salleh with.. problems! Awang is dropped easily and now kicks Manan!
For the win! Anuar Manan (Meiji) sprints to a great road-title ahead of Harrif Salleh and Awang, who lost 37" eventually.
The 40km flat timetrial has one clear favorite (Awang) and unless he suffers from his empty-handed efforts in the road race, it's unlikely to see anyone being able to challenge him..
And the split time already told the story: it's a comfortable win for Aziz Awang and his Sauber-team, beating runner-up Mat Senan by 44"!
So at least one Malaysian NC-title for the team, which should please the sponsors.
Malaysia welcomes it's best 9 cyclists and also (kind of a) local team in Sauber-Petronas for a hopefully interesting hilly road race and flat timetrial..
