The Folly in Langkawi Ends,With All Promising to Return
International Herald Tribune
March 3, 1997
Samuel Abt 

The silliest rumor swept the Tour de Langkawi: The six-man Swiss Post team would be unable to complete the bicycle race because the organizers had given them tickets home on a flight before the finish and it was impossible now to change the reservations.

While the Swiss would be gone, they would still be credited with the fifth-best time — the rumor was specific — in the last of 12 daily stages and thus would qualify for the 1 million ringgit ($402,700) prize list.

Ridiculous, right? Of course.

The Swiss Post team was not credited with the fifth-best time or any time at all in the stage Sunday on the island of Langkawi. The rest is true. Although the Swiss showed up in their yellow and red jerseys, they really did have a plane to catch.

For protocol's sake, since Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad was to wave the starting flag, the Swiss planned to ride about one kilometer of the 60-kilometer (37-mile) route, then detour to a bus to take them to the airport. Their flight to Kuala Lumpur was leaving at 5:30 P.M., which just gave them time once the stage started at 3.

It didn't, however, because all the dismantled bicycles arrived on a ferry at 12:15 and the start was postponed to 3:30.

"This is terrible," said the team's directeur sportif, Jacques Michaud. "But we told them a long time ago that we had to leave as soon as possible after the finish. We have races in Italy and Switzerland later this week. For our sponsor, those races are more important than this one.

"So they changed our tickets, but the only flight they could put us on is this one. If we wait another day, we get back to Switzerland too late."

In a coconutshell, that anecdote summed up the second Tour de Langkawi and its eccentric organization. Indeed, in a rare display of outrage, international judges fined the organizers 1,100 Swiss francs ($744), the currency of bicycle racing, after stage four because of 10 instances of improper marking of the course and its obstacles.

The trauma began even earlier and lingered. In the first three days, two stages were made unofficial because of late and disorganized airplane departures and arrivals. Tediously long bus journeys between stages near the end did not help either.

"Those first few days were hell," said Brian Walton, a Canadian rider with the Saturn team from the United States and the winner of a stage. "The transfers later weren't good, but they weren't outrageous."

That anxiety was a shame because in many ways the race was exemplary. A survey of riders showed that almost all praised racing conditions, their safety on the road and the high quality of their hotels and food.

Spectators were numerous, friendly and engaging, and the sun greenhoused down after the first few days; many a member of the race entourage arrived pink as a lichee and will return home brown as a betel.

"A good race," said Andrea Tafi, an Italian with the Mapei team and the world's 11th-ranked rider. "Very nice training for the European classics, lots of sun and heat, much better than rain and cold back home. I'd definitely come back next year."

Tafi could afford to be expansive. By winning two stages, he deposited nearly 12,000 ringgit in the team's treasury.

An even bigger winner was Luca Scinto, an Italian journeyman with MG, who will share with his teammates the 80,000 ringgit he gained for winning the race plus the 22,000 ringgit he received daily since stage six, when he first donned the yellow jersey. MG also won the team title, based on its top three riders' times, and that was worth 60,000 ringgit.

The MG team had quite a haul, since Nicola Loda, another of its riders, won the green points jersey Sunday that was worth 50,000 ringgit. Loda edged Frank McCormack of Saturn, who had worn the jersey for more than a week and was bound to keep it until, with four kilometers to go, the nipple on a tire broke and the air escaped.

By the time his wheel was replaced, McCormack could finish no better than 34th while Loda came in fifth and gained the points he needed for his victory. A 40-cent part became worth 23,000 ringgit, the difference between first and second place.

Michaud, the coach of Swiss Post, asked whether he and his team would return next year, said: "Certainly. If they invite us, we'll be back." He looked as if he had more to say but the driver of his bus honked. Swiss Post had a plane to catch from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur, then to London and finally Zurich.

Some races are full of transfers.

Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune