Colnago returns to Le Tour de Langkawi

Colnago-CSF will return to Le Tour de Langkawi next year. The Italian team, in one incarnation or another, has taken part in every edition of the race from 1992 to 2009, missing last year. With 33 stage wins, it is the most successful team in the race's history.

The father and son team of Bruno and Roberto Reverberi have led the squad under the names Scrigno, Navigare, Panaria and CSF since 1982. In its first appearance at the Malaysian race in 1998, a young sprinter named Alessandro Petacchi won a stage and his first professional win.

The sprinter at the 2011 edition of the race will be Andrea Piechele, with Alberto Contoli being the designated climber. The two second-year pros will be joined by four neo-pros, Paolo Locatelli, Omar Lombardi, Angelo Pagani and Andrea Pasqualon.

"Our strategy might change from the previous years, since the mountain stages of Cameron and Genting Highlands are on days four and five,” said Roberto Reverberi. “That means from stage six onwards, there will be breakaways from far out that will have a chance to succeed. For young riders, it's a great opportunity to experience racing as professionals.”

"A positive thing is the pretty short distance of the stages, it suits the early season period. As always, we'll do our best to make the most of the course.”

After having run the first 11 editions of the race, the team missed last year due to a scheduling conflict. However, it became the first team to be invited to race in 2011. “We're glad to come back because the organisation of the event is always great and this is for sure a nice experience for our young riders,” Reverberi said.

Mohamed Salleh, the race's CEO, said, “It's a great pleasure to welcome the team of the Reverberi family back to Malaysia. We're sure they have loads of great new talents coming up and we look forward to seeing them in action again.”

Le Tour of Langkawi covers a total of 1314.5 kilometres in ten stages from January 23 to February 1.