UNITEDHEALTHCARE BACK TO LTDL WITH TOUR DE FRANCE STAR BRAJKOVIC

Issac Bolivar finished 2nd at Genting Highlands in LTdL 2014

UHC's latest recruit Janez Brajkovic will bring his Tour de France experience to LTdL

KUALA LUMPUR, 6 February 2015 - 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 on 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 9^th 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 14^th 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.”

It might be Brajkovic’s first participation to LTdL but Redant knows the race at perfection. “I’ve always loved this event, the country and the Malaysian people”, the Belgian coach said. “When I worked as Radio-Tour officer in 2011, I got to know the organization from the inside. LTdL has the reputation of a very well organized race that fully deserves its status as a H.C. event, which is the highest on the Asia Tour.”

THE UNITEDHEALTHCARE TEAM FOR THE 2015 LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI:

Janez BRAJKOVIC (Slo), Jonathan CLARKE (Aus), Isaac BOLIVAR (Col), Kiel REIJNEN (USA), Ken HANSON (USA) and Carlos ALZATE (Col).

Organised by Human Voyage Sdn Bhd, the 20th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from 8 to 15 March, 2015 is set to cover more than 1,000km over 8 stages, the UCI 2.HC (hors category) race featuring again as one of the biggest events on the UCI Asia Tour calendar.