KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Pro Cycling (MPC) is determined to continue improving after making a decent debut in Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) last week.
MPC team principal Sayuti Zahit said, all things considered, he was pleased with his inexperienced squad's performance over the eight stages.
The UCI continental side, the successor of the now defunct Team Sapura Cycling, fielded an all-Malaysian lineup for LTdL which included four riders who have come from mountain biking backgrounds.
The four - Ahmad Syazrin Awang Ilah, Zulfikri Zulkifli, Fahmi Khairul and Syawal Mazlin - were all competing in LTdL for the first time. Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil and team captain Zawawi Azman were the other two riders.
LTdL was only MPC's second UCI ProSeries tour after the Tour of Hainan in August.
"Though we were not able to achieve all the goals we had aimed for, finishing third in the Asian teams classification was still a decent result for us," said Sayuti yesterday (Oct 7).
"We lost Izzat and Fahmi halfway through the tour but I am happy with how the other riders stepped up.
"It was an eye-opening experience for our riders and they showed improvements with each stage. This was definitely a valuable experience for them.
"Of course they made some mistakes but that is to be expected. They have not raced in that many high-level races such as LTdL.
"We will not be content, we will conduct a post-mortem to identify our weaknesses from this tour and work hard on improving them ahead of our upcoming races."
MPC finished third in the Asian teams classification behind winners JCL Team Ukyo (Japan) and second-placed Thailand National Team, which is also a continental side.
Syawal was the first Malaysian to cross the line during the third stage climb at Cameron Highlands and was the second highest placed Malaysian in the general classification in 47th place (9:59s) behind Terengganu Cycling Team's (TSG) Nur Aiman Zariff (41st, +7:34s).
Sprinter Izzat was able to finish seventh in the opening stage in Langkawi but later found himself out of the tour after finishing Out of the Time Limit (OTL) in the fourth stage (Kuala Kubu Bharu-Bentong) together with Fahmi.