The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Aaliyah eyes finals spot in her first major outing
- Monsalve confident he can win the LTdL overall title again
- Five ProTour teams to spice up Tour de Langkawi this year
| Aaliyah eyes finals spot in her first major outing Posted: 20 Feb 2013 05:30 PM PST PETALING JAYA: Ten-year-old Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah is relishing the prospect of competing in her first ever IWWF Junior World Waterski Championships in Muwala, Australia starting today. Aaliyah, a primary five student at Nexus International School, is a hot young prospect in the girls' tricks event and is banking on improving her personal best and qualify for the finals. The competition is one of eight international events that the youngster is slated to take part in this year. The other events are in Indonesia, France and Malaysia. "My target in the first of my Junior Worlds is to be able to better my personal best performance of 4,220 points in the tricks event," said Aaliyah, who will compete in the girls' Under-17 category. "If I can make around 4,500 points, I stand a good chance of finishing in the top 12 (preliminary round) tomorrow and hopefully enter the finals," she added. The competition, held at the Max Kirwan Lakes, 350km north of Melbourne, will feature 27 girls from 15 countries in the Under-17 category. Her father and coach, Hanifah Yoong said the meet will be an acid test for the young prodigy. "Aaliyah is ranked 18 among the 26 girls in the competition but she has since improved further in training. Now is the test to see where she stands among the world's Under-17 skiers," said Hanifah. "Anything can happen in the tricks discipline but we believe she is mentally prepared to get into the finals." American Erika Lang, 17, the top ranked Under-17 skier is a firm favourite to take the title. Others in the fray include Americans Anna Gray and Brooke Baldwin as well as Canada's Neilly Ross and Italian Alice Bagnoli. |
| Monsalve confident he can win the LTdL overall title again Posted: 20 Feb 2013 05:28 PM PST LANGKAWI: Returning with a new team for Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) this year, 2011 winner Yonnatha Monsalve believes he can emerge as the overall winner again. The Venezuelan will be the sole hopeful for his team Vini Fantini to win the overall classification title as he has taken the role of team leader in the race. Monsalve had to resort to being just a lieutenant to Jose Serpa in the Androni Giocattoli team when Serpa won his second overall title in LTdL. But Monsalve penned a move to Vini Fantini on a two-year contract in October last year to aim for a bigger role. "I think I'm in a good shape for the race and I can say that I'm 90% ready to challenge for the overall title," said the 23-year-old Monsalve. The race, which will start today with a 162.7km stage from Kangar to Kulim will not present climbers like Monsalve an early chance to show their hands as eight out of 10 stages are sprint stages. Only the climb up Cameron Highlands (Stage 3) and Genting Highlands (Stage 5) will likely decide the overall title. But with five ProTour teams in the fray this year compared to two last year, the battle for the overall title will be wide open. Although ProTour teams like Blanco, Astana, Garmin-Sharp, Orica-Green Edge and Omega Pharma-QuickStep are eyeing the sprints in the race, it will be hard to dictate the race at the front this time. Threat for the overall classification could come from other pro continental teams and lesser known continental teams. Pro continental outfit Europcar have Tour de France mountain stage winner Pierre Rolland in their ranks and although it is still early in the season, the Frenchman should not be discounted for the overall title. "I love the stage in Genting – it's beautiful. I'm back here again and that means I like it here very much," said Rolland. Rolland made his first appearance in the LTdL in 2011 and finished 12th overall and 1:48 behind Monsalve. The Frenchman opted to spend his time racing in warmer climes here than competing in Europe as he is looking forward to a better showing this season. "I will take it stage by stage and if by the end of the Cameron (Highlands) stage I'm in good spot for the overall classification, then maybe I will try my luck in Genting (Highlands)," said Rolland, who won the best young rider award in the Tour de France in 2011. |
| Five ProTour teams to spice up Tour de Langkawi this year Posted: 20 Feb 2013 03:15 PM PST LANGKAWI: The battle for stage wins in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) this year will be taken up to a new level with the arrival of five ProTour teams who are hungry for wins at the start of the season. Team Blanco, formerly known as Rabobank, have Theo Bos as their leader in the sprints. Bos already had two podium finishes this year at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal last week. He finished third in the first stage and won the second stage. Astana, meanwhile, will be pinning their hope on LTdL stage win record holder Andrea Guardini, who has 11 wins to his name. But the Italian sprint prodigy has yet to win a stage in Astana colours this year. He finished third in one stage of the Tour of Qatar earlier this month behind winner Mark Cavendish. "The fight for stage wins will be very tough this year. I think Blanco and Astana will try very hard to control the race for sprints. I'm just eager to get my first win for Astana," said Guardini. Bos will be eager to perfect his sprint train ahead of his bigger objective if the season and that is possibly the Giro d'Italia. The Dutchman is testing his own sprint train as the team also have another sprinter, Mark Renshaw, who has a different programme this year. Last season, both sprinters had limited chances to go all out for wins as sometimes one of them had to work for the other. Bos will have the services of Jetse Bol, Tom Leezer, Jos Van Emden and winner of 10 stages in LTdL, Graeme Brown in the sprints. Marc Goos, meanwhile, will have a free rein in the climbing stages. "We are looking at the sprints here and that is our main objective. Brown will be the main leadout man for me so he won't be looking to level with Guardini," said Bos in jest, as Brown was the former record holder for stage wins with 10 victories in the LTdL before Guardini beat it last year. Meanwhile, local lad Mohd Harrif Salleh of the Terengganu Cycling Team, said he will have his work cut out to win stages in the races this year with so many big names in the fray. "But I will try my best to get good results in all the stages. That doesn't mean that I won't try anything ... but it will be hard," said Harrif, who finished third in one stage last year. |
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