Ox caught out. 5 man lead group, one from Pure Black too. Could be a nice rivalry if these two go at it hammer tongs for Asian races in the coming seasons, though I suspect they'll move on to bigger things.

Already feels so long ago i started the team break down i have forgotten, but do remember Fukushima looked ok, had had a few decent results so thought he may be a sprinter.

so much for my prediction that it would be a sprinters race

whole thing goes to pieces

means Genesys going to be chasing the race from now on.

Jelajah 1 Malaysia 2012
Stage 1 Result

Stage Individual Classification
1. Fukushima Shinichi (TSG)
2. Torckler Michael (PBR)
3. Fitrianto Hari (PSN)

General Individual Classification For Malaysian (White Jersey)
Othman Muhamad Adiq Husainie (MAS)

General Individual Classification For Asian (Blue Jersey)
Fukushima Shinichi (TSG)

General King Of The Mountain Classification (Red Jersey)
Mat Senan Mohammad Saufi (TSG)

General Individual Classification By Point (Green Jersey)
Othman Muhamad Adiq Husainie (MAS)

General Individual Classification (Yellow Jersey)
Fukushima Shinichi (TSG)

Pork loving Ox really lost it in the end. Well down, good to see Tonton doing well on a flat stage.

Older, ancient for a cyclist.

The Senior senior is still a pro, says enough about who's the better. Wonder if he'll get a senior citizen bonus for the win.

You know that the race is meandering when Genesys talk about Goss' win.

;D!

That would probably just be Andrew back in Australia logging in at the same time as Steve in Malaysia. Two DS's double the twitter coverage

Also, the team was selected to go for one out stage wins rather than focus so much on GC. Although only having one in a break of 20+ is a big cockup indeed!

This thread is stunning. Ive learnt more in the last two months on velorooms about strange races in weird and wonderful countries than i had in the last ten years.

I refuse to believe that the highlights master has met his match.

on a complete aside, very dissapointing to see most of the videos on the tour of borneo youtube channel only have 2-3 views, and some dont have any. Im working my through them in the name of globalisation
http://www.youtube.com/user/tourofborneo1?feature=watch

Manan also HD. I wonder what happened to him, surely his form can't be this bad.

Ha, we are working on it. Still have to bow down to CyclingIQ as the true master of Asian Cycling.

they are at Tour of Chongming this week so do not have as much detail as usual on Malaysia

talking of CyclingIQ update this morning says there is a chance of rain today

Jelajah Malaysia stage 2: Bandar Baru Kampar – Kulim, Kedah, 201.8km. Start 10:00 local/12:00EST/03:00GMT. Forecast 32°C, chance of rain.

I do know that Pahang have made a change from their Borneo squad, and just couldn't identify their photograph. They had a sponsor on their strip, so they're fake in all likelihood.

Stage 1 report

KAMPAR (8 May 2012) – Veteran Shinichi Fukushima of the Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) shone under the sweltering heat to take Stage One of the Jelajah Malaysia 2012 to at once prove that age is but just a number.

The 40-year-old native of Nagano, who counts the Tour of Japan title he won in 2004 as one of his most coveted crown, was inspired on the day when he stuck close to the early breakaway before finishing the race with a blistering time of 3:50:38.

“I suffered very much in the climb (KOM 1 at Ulu Yam),” said Shinichi, who also picked up the leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the race today. “But at the last kilometre, I saw the opportunity when the others dropped down, so I just went for it.

“It is quite a long stage today but there are still five more days to go so it is important to just concentrate on keeping the yellow from day to day and not to think too far in front.”

Following the flag off by Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak this morning at the Merdeka Stadium, the cautious start in the beginning soon gave away to some early breakaways as several teams tried to stamp their dominance on the peloton.

The winding climb round Ulu Yam made up the first KOM with Mohamad Saufi Mat Senan from TSG picking up the first six points of the campaign this year to be followed by Michael Tockler (Pure Black racing team) and Indonesian veteran Tonton Susanto (Putra Perjuangan).

“My target in this Jelajah is the KOM and for sure, I will try to maintain this red jersey for the next several days,” said Muhammad Saufi.

With the first sprint at Ulu Yam Baru taken up by Malaysian Development team’s Muhammad Adiq Husainie Othman, twelve riders formed the breakaway group as they stretched to a more than five minute lead over the peloton approaching the second sprint at Tanjung Malim (marked 71.8km).

Gap by the breakaway group was pushed to more than six minutes in front with a new pack of six chasers forming just three minutes ahead of the peloton. Among those in the front group are Aisan’s Yasuharu Nakajima, Mohamad Saufi and Shinichi, Anuar Manan of Malaysian Development and Torckler.

The chasers are Mohd Zamri Saleh (TSG), Ivan Chernyavskiy (Kazakhstan), Vadim Shaekhov (Uzbekistan), George Luis Oconer (LBC Cycling), Dani Lesmana and Bambang Suryadi (Poloygon Sweet Nice).

After the second sprint which was also won by Muhammad Adiq Husainie, the pace setters at the front did not show any sign of slowing down as they opened up a gap of more than eight minutes going into the final run into Kampar.

“I’m just using this Jelajah as a preparation for the Tour of Japan. It is more training than anything although I will still go for the KOM, the sprints and also the jerseys should there be an opportunity,” added Muhammad Adiq, who came in second behind Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan Racing team) in the third sprint at Bidor.

“I did not expect to take the green jersey today for sure but still it is only the first day of the Jelajah, so there will be plenty of action yet.”

At the end of just the first day of the Jelajah Malaysia 2012, 20 riders had already dropped off from the 117 starters in the morning to show that the race will be a lot keener this time round than in previous editions.

http://www.jelajahmalaysia.com.my/news/0805.asp

Struggling on yesterday's climb? Can't imagine it getting any easier for Fukushima over the course of the week.

Top one is Kane.

Second one is Joel Pearson. He almost bridged to the break but didn't quite make it. That looks like him putting up the white flag.

also, he ain't that big, but relatively he looks huge compared to most of the asian riders who are a lot smaller

Unless you've seen photos of the Chinese team 'Holy Brother', because boy oh boy, they are massive. They look like they've come out of a 'special' CCP breeding prgram :o

They are Chinese after all, could well be a special breeding programme ;D

As for Joel Pearson, has to be the Malaysian's who've made him a giant then.