FORMER FORCA AMSKINS CYCLIST WINS THIRD EDITION OF L'ETAPE MALAYSIA

MELAKA, May 5 (Bernama) -- Former Forca Amskins Racing cyclist Mohd Hafidz Abd Hamid won the men's Elite category in the third edition of the L'Etape Malaysia 2024 cycling championship here today.

Mohd Hafidz, 32, in his second appearance at the country's largest amateur cycling championship, completed the 140-kilometre (km) ride around the Melaka in 3 hours 20 minutes 31.56 seconds (s) to claim the championship title.

"Alhamdulillah, I'm grateful for this result, even though the course was quite challenging. I didn't aim to win this category and was just focused on supporting the team, but I happened to break away from the leading group, so I continued to the finish line," he said when met after the race.

Matthew Brittain, representing Singapore, came in second with a time of 3:20:31.57s, followed by fellow Singaporean Thomas Tong, who finished third with a time of 3:22:28.00s.

In the women's category, the Elite champion from the 2023 L'Etape edition, Alicia Brittain, also from Singapore, successfully defended her title after finishing with a time of 3:23:27.41s.

“I think when you get first place and you do it at the next race you always put a lot expectation and pressure.

“Everyone think you’ll do well but every race is a new race you have to start from zero and my main objective is to stay safe and I’m glad hard works paid off,” she said.

The second and third places in the women's category were claimed by local participant Amelie Tan (3:47:05.93s) and Singaporean Rita Loh (4:00:43.35s), respectively.

A total of 3,358 participants took part in the third edition of L'Etape Malaysia by Tour de France, with two race distances—140km and 70km.

A total of five categories were contested, involving both men's and women's categories.

-- BERNAMA