KUCHING: Sarawak’s Team Corbusier kicked off the second half of the cycling season with a flourish in the Kota Kinabalu Open on Sunday.
The KK Open winning Team Corbusier pose at the event. From (left) junior Garry Tay, coach Shaiful Helmi, Laurel L Adrian, Fito Prilanji, Afiq Harun, Yudhi Rahmad and Zahin Harun.
Racing in the ‘Land Below the Wind’, Corbusier’s Kalimantan pro Fito Prilanji won the men’s road race while top Sarawak junior Gary Tay reeled in the junior mountainbike road event.
They topped off a superb Sunday with all five senior riders finishing in the top ten.
Sabah, home town of team leader Lauel Lauridsen Adrian, is becoming a gold mine for Corbusier with their first UCI race win and leader’s jersey coming in the first stage of the 2013 Tour of Borneo.
Another Kuching team, Sonamu, also had a good harvest when they won the men’s mountainbike road event and took second spot in the junior event.
Nicholas Minol won the 75km race in 1hr 56mins 49sec with teammate Andre Pausek fifth 4mins 28secs behind.
Sonamu’s old warhorse M. Azhar Bujang fought off cramps to finish seventh.
Their rising junior Wan Haikal W. Zainal found Tay, the Sukma mountainbike bronze medallist, too much to handle and finished second.
Tay won the 50km race in 1hr 20mins 2secs with Haikal one second back.
Corbusier coach Shaiful Helmi was not surprised to see Tay win.
“I kind of expected Garry to win as he is so strong in the junior category. He was actually under-geared with a 39 chainring compared to Haikal’s 42.
“I wanted him to change it but he convinced me he could do it. I trust him,” said Shaiful.
The blue ribbon 92.2km road race saw 18 of the 80 starters failing to finish the tough hilly journey with Fito outsprinting Team Brunei’s Mohd. Luqman. Both riders were credited with 2hrs 31mins 43secs to average 43.665kph.
Laurel took the remaining podium spot when he finished 1min 14secs behind.
Yudhi Rachmad was sixth, behind Brunei’s sole Glasgow Commonwealth Games athlete M. Immadi Aziz.
The Harun siblings Afiq and Zahin were seventh and eight respectively, a credible result in their first major road race.
Shaiful was surprised at their strong performance despite not having an ideal week-long training camp prior to the race.
“It was not the best situation since Hari Raya just finished with all the lemang and rendang mixed in.”
“I knew we could make the podium but I never expected all of them to be in the top 10 knowing that the Brunei team were better in terms of strength and chances,” said Shaiful.
“I definitely wanted Laurel to win in his hometown race but I also realised that he was a prime target. Brunei riders knew Laurel’s strength so I told Laurel he can go for the win but don’t jeopardise the team’s chances. He understands this well.”
In the race, Fito and Laurel broke away with two Bruneians.
With 15km left, Fito took off with Luqman and had enough left to beat the Brunei rider at the line.
“I knew they were watching me so I told Fito to go for it,” said Laurel.
“It was disappointing to not win but that’s how it is sometimes. We need to sacrifice to get the win. It is my duty to see that the team wins.”
“Overall, I am happy as we won and I also made the podium plus we were all in the top 10,” said the UiTM sports science major.