Tour de Langkawi Cycling News for February 6, 2006
Edited by Anthony Tan
Who is José Serpa?
By Anthony Tan in Kuala Selangor
Jose Serpa (Selle Italia Diquigiovanni)
Photo ©: Shane Goss
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One may be forgiven for knowing little about the winner of the fourth
stage today, 26 year-old Colombian José Serpa.
The neo-pro from Selle Italia Diquigiovanni is quite possibly the last
rider to be registered as a professional in 2006; after all, direttore
sportivo Gianni Savio only signed him right at the end of last month following
his three stage wins and second overall at the Vuelta
al Tachira.
That race in Venezuela came down to the wire; throughout the 14-day race,
Serpa staged an impressive head-to-head battle against local favourite
Manuel Medina from the Cabimas team, winning two road stages and the final
stage time trial to come within a minute and a half of stealing victory
from Medina.
"He's a complete rider," said Savio to Cyclingnews when asked
to describe his qualities.
"He was an amateur, and I signed with him only at the end of January
- this is the first race he participates in with the professionals. We
signed a contract with him for three years - [200]6, 7 and 8. We signed
in Venezuela after the Vuelta Tachira; he was second in the overall classement,
and for this reason I signed him and presented a description to the UCI."
Naturally, Savio and assistant direttore sportivo Bellini were one of
the first to congratulate Serpa following his first pro win here in Kuala
Selangor, where he upstaged his more experienced rivals after being away
for all but five kilometres in a stage that 28 times that length.
"This morning, I spoke with Gianni Savio and Marco Bellini and they thought
we could possibly do something today. So I took it from there and it resulted
in victory," said Serpa.
"I'm very, very happy that Gianni has given me the chance to race at
the highest level, and I will do my utmost to achieve a high level in
cycling."
George: "If somebody wants it, let him."
By Anthony Tan in Kuala Selangor
By George, you've done it again!
Photo ©: Shane Goss
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"If somebody wants to come and get it, then, well, let him... with Darren
[Lill], Ryan [Cox] and myself, we've got the three of the best climbers
in the race."
These were the taunting words issued by race leader David George of South
Africa at the end of Stage
4 of the Le Tour de Langkawi, speaking about tomorrow's ultimately
decisive stage to the Genting Highlands that finishes 1,699 metres above
sea level.
For a fair portion of the stage, George's team from South Africa assumed
their unspoken position at the head of the peloton, keeping the breakaway
in check, but also showing they're a team not to be messed with. The latter
may have been the case 10 years ago, when the Proteas first arrived on
the shores of Langkawi island and didn't feature at all. Today, though,
it's a different story.
"Ten years ago, we came to this race and we were way out of our depth;
today we really showed that South African cycling has come a long way.
Hopefully, we've had a day to recover so tomorrow we can figure up the
front," said the 29 year-old from Cape Town.
On the subject of tomorrow's stage, there's probably ten or so riders
who, on their day, are good enough to win atop Genting's surreal fantasyland
- among them George himself, his team-mate Darren Lill, Cesar Grajales
(Navigators Insurance, who sits in third position overall), previous mountains
leader Francesco Bellotti (Credit Agricole, fourth on GC) and his team-mate,
Sunday's winner Saul Raisin - but only a handful who can win overall.
As George knows full well, Langkawi is theirs to win.
"Well... effectively we're in the best position," he admitted. "If it's
an attacking race, then better for us - but we don't have to smash the
race to pieces [ourselves].
"We don't need to watch everyone: we've got Missaglia at 40 seconds and
the next guy at two and a half minutes; looking at how it went yesterday,
we've got possibly some of the best riders in the race, so again, I don't
think we need to be too concerned about it being an attacking race. We've
got the job to follow and obviously to defend [the jersey] we'll have
to."
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