LTDL: Spanish Pro Team Equipo Kern Pharma To Fill Spot Vacated By Cofidis

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- The Spanish ProTeam, Equipo Kern Pharma, will fill the spot left by the French WorldTeam, Cofidis, which has withdrawn from the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2025 race, scheduled to run from Sept 28 to Oct 5.

This development was confirmed by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the LTdL 25 Secretariat, Emir Abdul Jalal, who stated that Cofidis contacted the organisers to pull out last Thursday.

"Although it's a bit disappointing to be missing a WorldTeam this time, we are still confident that the competitive spirit of LTdL 2025 will not be affected because Kern Pharma is also a great team.

"Due to time constraints, we didn't have the opportunity to lobby another WorldTeam as a replacement, and Kern Pharma, which was on a list of four teams we had to set aside earlier, responded quickly and expressed their readiness to join LTdL 2025," he said in a statement today.

Equipo Kern Pharma made their LTdL debut in the 2023 edition, finishing third overall in the best team category before showing more strength to become the champion in the same category last year.

LTdL 2025 will cover 12 states in Peninsular Malaysia with a total distance of 1,243.5 kilometers (km), with 22 teams participating, including two WorldTeams, nine ProTeams, 10 Continental teams, and one Malaysian national team.

The race will start in Pulau Langkawi for 96.5 km, followed by Padang Besar-Kepala Batas (170.1 km), Gerik-Pasir Puteh (198.2 km), Kuala Terengganu-Kemaman (140.8 km), Temerloh-Bukit Fraser (133.7 km), Shah Alam-Port Dickson (123.4 km), Melaka-Medini (214.6 km), and Tangkak-Kuala Lumpur (180.5 km).

-- BERNAMA