The summit finish on the queen stage of the 2015 Tour de Langkawi has been altered just a day before the race is due to start.
Race organisers announced on Saturday that the climb to Genting Highlands on the penultimate stage has been scrapped due to safety concerns arising from the heavy machinery and construction work being carried out to renovate the resort. The stage will instead finish atop Fraser’s Hill, a shorter and gentler climb, in a move that will alter the complexion of the race.
Despite the official health and safety line, Cyclingnews understands that a failure on the part of the Tour de Langkawi and Genting Malaysia - which owns the mountain and its roads - to come to a sponsorship agreement could lie behind the decision. It has been suggested that the company has been reluctant to host the stage from a tourism and publicity point of view, not wanting to showcase its resort in its current machinery-ridden state.
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The company has been a sponsor of the race since its inception in 1996 and its mountain has become the marquee feature of the race, the general classification so often decided on its slopes. This year, though, there doesn’t appear to be a sponsorship agreement in place, despite the planned inclusion of the climb which goes up roads owned privately by the resort.
There hasn’t been the customary announcement about the company’s continued sponsorship of the race and its logo isn’t to be seen on the race’s website, nor at the team presentation today, although it does appear on some race documentation.
Asked whether or not Genting Malaysia was a sponsor of the race, technical director Geoff Kronenburg said: “We are not at liberty to discuss that situation at this point in time. We are still supporting each other. When we finish at Fraser’s we will still transfer and stay in Genting. In that respect there is a show of common support.”
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