Le Tour de Langkawi

Le Tour de Langkawi, Genting Highlands, Cycling

Le Tour de Langkawi - Feb 2- 11, 2007
An international-level cycling event held (annually) in Malaysia that should not to be missed by cyclists, and non-cyclists.

This year's Le Tour de Langkawi started from Langkawi island on Feb 2 and traverse through 8 states in the Malaysian peninsula, and will end at a grand affair at 3pm on Sunday Feb 11, 2007 at Dataran Merdeka. This is a big ticket event, with prize money USD 300,000 (a cool 1 million Malaysian ringgit)

I happened to be at the right time and right spot to get a first hand view of the cyclists as they cycled their way up the steep slopes of Genting Highlands on the morning of Feb 9 (circa 12 noon) for stage 8 of the race. There are altogether 10 stages in the race.

Although this event has been held in Malaysia since 11 years ago in 1986, this is the first time I witnessed the event 'live'. Here are some photo shots that I managed to capture.

To find out more about the event, do visit the official website http://www.ltdl.com.my/

This is the route that the cyclists took for the week-long cycling event (Source : official website for the Le Tour de Langkawi)



I am no cyclist, but I can imagine the Genting Highlands route must be one of the most challenging route because :
1. the final destination - First World Hotel at Genting Highlands is situated at altitude 2000 metres above sea level
2. roads leading up to the Highlands are steep and winding. Car drivers are advised to us a lower gear to go up the highlands.
3. cool temperature ranges from 16-23 degrees (Feb 9 : 18 degrees). The air gets relatively thinner as you go up.

Despite the conditions, the cyclists persevered. Kudos to all the cyclists.