KUALA LUMPUR—American-registered Pro continental team Unitedhealthcare will be back at Le Tour de Langkawi for the fifth consecutive time after producing a great showing in 2014 with Isaac Bolivar’s third place overall and Bradley White’s audacious victory in Stage 5 in Rembau.
As the organization managed by Mike Tamayo keeps growing on the international cycling scene, they’ll line up with their new recruit Janez Brajkovic, who made the headlines at the Tour de France not long ago.
“Until last year, we mostly focused on the sprints when we came to Le Tour de Langkawi,” said sports director Hendrik Redant. “But we had a nice surprise with Bolivar one year ago. He felt sick at the beginning of the race but he climbed to Genting Highlands really well. After he finished third overall in 2014, we’re targeting an even better performance this year. It’s going to be a different race because Genting will be at the end this time around but we also have a different team and more possibilities to perform with the arrival of Brajkovic.”
Brajkovic, 31, was the U23 world champion for individual time trial in 2004.
Winning the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné and finishing 9th overall at the 2012 Tour de France are among the highlights of his career. He started his duty for UHC on a positive note with a 14th place overall at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina in January.
“We’ve seen Brajkovic climbing with the best riders at the Tour de France so we’re looking forward to seeing him in action in Malaysia as well”, commented the CEO of the 2015 Le Tour de Langkawi Datuk Malik Mydin. “With the experience he’s got and the expertise of his sports director who is well known in our country, he’s very likely to wait for his time to come in the ascent to Genting Highlands and cap it off.”