Mori rides away with title

19/08/2002

THE Gamuda Eagle Tour ended in Langkawi yesterday and the undisputed
champion was Italian Simone Mori from Team Jura Suisse who clocked a total
of 9 hours, 17 minutes for the inaugural title.
And the win has made him love the island so much, that he now wants to
see the whole country by taking part in the Le Tour de Langkawi in
February next year.
"I thank my team-mates for helping me win the overall Eagle Tour title
and my next plan is to come back to Malaysia in February to make an
attempt in the Le Tour de Langkawi.
"Although the Eagle Tour was a 2.6 UCI classification race, the set-up
was equivalent, if not better, than bigger races held in Europe. I am
impressed with the hosts and would like to come back to this country
again," said Simone.
The stage winner yesterday was Rune Jogert of Team Krone when he clocked
1:03:30 in the Stage Five which was a criterium race of 50 kilometres.
After Stage Four, Mori took Jogert and his team to task for being
unsporting and not helping in keeping pace and yesterday, Jogert
attributed it to "tactics".
"We wanted to win at least one Stage and in the Fourth, we played a
tactical game and waited at the back and only sprinted at the finish line.
It was not being selfish but tactics to grab one Stage win at least in the
inaugural Tour," said Jogert.
Jogert also took the Overall Points title on 15 points.
The under-23 Stage Five winner was Matnur Matnur, an Indonesian who
represented the Selangor Sweet Nice Team. The under-23 Overall stage
winner was Ireland's Philip Deignan who clocked a total of 9:19:16s.
The Irish lad almost didn't make it to Malaysia as he was slated as a
reserve and as luck would have it, one of the Irish team's main rider fell
during training in Ireland and broke his shoulder bone and was replaced by
Deignan.
"I received a last minute call-up and I was determined to prove to all
that I am a good rider. Maybe now the Ireland selectors will choose me for
the world championships," said Deignan.
The Irish were also strong riders as a group and finished as the Overall
Team champions with an accumulated 27:57:33. The second best team in the
Eagle Tour were the Iran National team who clocked 27:58:30.
(END)