Shortened yesterday, Jelajah Malaysia now postponed to May
ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL
SHAH ALAM: The 54th edition of Asia's oldest stage race the Jelajah Malaysia scheduled to begin on Feb 26-March 2 has now been postponed to May 28-30.
The organisers had initially announced yesterday that the UCI 2.2 status race had been shortened from five to three stages, thus this latest development has also raised questions among teams, who have scheduled the race as part of their programmes.
No specific reason was given for the postponement as talk within cycling circles hint that it had something to do with funding issues.
In a statement, the organisers stated that the new dates had been agreed upon by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) upon views from the International Cycling Union (UCI).
"We will continue preparations towards the organisation and we will improve on weaknesses and mistakes which had forced this postponement," read the statement.
"The teams who had agreed to participate in the race have also been informed of the postponement and have agreed to participate in the rescheduled event," it added. The rescheduled event is now expected to begin with Stage One covering 154.3 kilometres from Shah Alam to Teluk Intan on May 28, with Stage Two the following day featuring a mountain top finish covering 139.7 kilometres from Bagan Datuk to Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands and the final day sees a 123.2 kilometre dash from Tapah to Meru Raya.
