The Tour de Langkawi is a multiple stagebicycle race held in Malaysia. It is named after the archipelago Langkawi, where the first edition started and finished. The race has been held annually since 1996, primarily in February. It usually consists of 10-day-long segments over 10 days, but has been reduced to eight stages over recent years. While the route changes each year, the Genting Highlands climb, the toughest in the tour, is always included. Tour de Langkawi is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union as a 2.HC road race in the UCI Asia Tour calendar. The race will become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020. All stages are timed to the finish. Times for each completed stage are compounded; the rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to wear the yellow jersey. While the general classification garners the most attention, there are other contests held within the Tour: the points classification for sprinters, the mountains classification for climbers, the Asian rider classification for Asian riders, the team classification for competing teams, and the Asian team classification for competing Asian teams.
History
The Tour de Langkawi was conceived by former Malaysian Prime MinisterMahathir bin Mohamad to put Malaysia "on the world sporting and tourism map". The first race was held in 1996. It was Asia's richest bicycle race with total prize money of RM1.1 million. In 1997, the teams Mapei and MG from Italy and the team Casino from France refused to participate in the second stage of the Tour as a protest against long delays in the delivery of their bicycles and luggage caused by insufficient numbers of cargo handlers at provincial airports in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Organisers officially cancelled the second stage, though an unofficial shortened version was held. Since then, the race has never re-visited Sabah or Sarawak. The final stage of the race was cancelled twice due to heavy rain in 2003 and 2006. During the first stage in 2004, police allowed vehicles onto the course by mistake. Riders mutually decided to neutralise the stage. In 2008, the Genting Highlands climb stage was replaced by Fraser's Hill. Due to 150,000 visitors converging on the Genting Highlands resort area to celebrate Chinese New Year, officials would not be able to close roads along the race route to insure the safety of riders and the public. The Genting Highlands climb stage returned to the Tour in 2009.
