Tour de Langkawi

History

The Tour de Langkawi was conceived by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to put Malaysia "on the world sporting and tourism map". The first race was held from 29 February to 9 March 1996, with the opening and ending taking place in Langkawi. It was Asia's richest bicycle race with total prize money of RM1.1 million. It attracted 21 teams from 19 countries but without the participation of the major cyclists of the world.

In 1997, the teams and from Italy and the team 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, except for the 2020 edition.

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.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 race that was supposed to happen between January 30 to February 6 was cancelled after initial consideration of postponement to September in the same year. The event made its return in 2022, initially scheduled from March 3 to 10 but was then postponed twice, first to June 11 to 18, then again to October 11 to 18.

The 2023 race was taken off from the UCI calendar after the UCI received complaints from teams of not receiving payments for appearance fees and flight tickets from the 2022 race. Malaysia National Cycling Federation vice president Datuk Amarjit Singh Gill said that the race will go on as scheduled and he will get a clearer picture of the situation during the world body's board meeting. In August 2023, the UCI agreed to reinstate the race in its calendar, with the National Sports Council making key changes on payments to participants from the 2023 race onwards. For 2023 edition, the race will be held on 23 September to 30 September 2023. This year the National Sport Council (MSN) will be the organiser of the event. The race involves eight stages of racing over eight days across 11 states in Peninsular Malaysia with a total distance of 1,280 kilometers.

Past winners

General classification

Points classification

Mountains classification

Asian rider classification

Team classification

Asian team classification

Sponsor

• Telekom Malaysia
• Petronas
• Genting Malaysia
• Maju Group
• BSN
• Altel
• Terengganu
• Proton Holdings
• Tourism Malaysia
• DRB-HICOM

References

References

1. (2023). "Tour de Langkawi".
2. "Tour du Langkawi (Mal) - Cat.2.ProS". Memoire-du-cyclisme.eu.
3. (7 October 2025). "UCI lulus penganjuran LTdL hingga 2028". Portal Berita RTM.
4. (3 March 1996). "Wan Lokman seeks a tour de force in cycling meet". [[New Straits Times]].
5. (18 February 1996). "Big race in Malaysia". The Straits Times.
6. Abt, Samuel. (21 February 1997). "3 Pro Teams Balk at Logistics in Asian Bike Race". [[The New York Times]].
7. Tan, Anthony. (9 February 2003). "Bongiorno triumphs in KL; Danielson safely home".
8. Tan, Anthony. "Sprintless finale to first day".
9. Johnson, Greg. (23 January 2008). "Fraser's Hill replaces Langkawi's Genting".
10. Ishak, Fadhli. (18 November 2020). "Le Tour de Langkawi cancelled due to Covid-19". New Straits Times.
11. "LTdL 2022 postponed to October due to clash of dates: Ahmad Faizal".
12. Rajan, K.. (July 27, 2023). "World body removes LTdL from international calendar".
13. TIMESPORT. (July 27, 2023). "LTdL will go on as scheduled".
14. TIMESPORT. (August 1, 2023). "Malaysia's most famous cycling race back in UCI's good books".
15. Ishak, Fadhli. (August 16, 2023). "LTdL competing teams to be paid upfront".