KUALA LUMPUR: The Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) have given their assurance that they are "not giving up" on sprinter Harrif Saleh and will continue to give him the support he needs to challenge for the podium this year.
Harrif, who turns 36 this year, struggled to make an impact in the last two editions of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).
The Kuala Terengganu-born sprinter won one stage in LTdL in 2019 and followed up with two more wins a year later, cementing his status as one of the greatest riders in Malaysian road cycling history.
TSG sporting director Danny Feng said the UCI continental team will give Harrif more chances to race in high level competitions to ensure he goes into this year's LTdL well-prepared.
The UCI ProSeries race will be held on from Sep 29 to Oct 6.
"We are not delusional, we know he is getting older and he also knows this too," said Danny when contacted recently.
"He didn't have as many races as he would have liked in the lead up to last year's LTdL, which was one of the reasons he was not at his best.The standard of competition at LTdL has also been much higher over the last two years.
"Our goal this year is to give our local riders more opportunities to race, and this includes Harrif. We are not giving up on him and will continue to support him, as I am confident he is still capable of delivering good results. He just needs more races and more confidence going into LTdL."
Danny added that LTdL remains the team's focus for this year.
TSG have strengthened their squad with general classification riders Andreas Miltiadis (Cyprus) and Eritrean Merhawi Kudus.
Merhawi, 30, is a former World Tour rider and finished second in stage five of of Vuelta a Espana in 2017, as well as second overall in LTdL in 2014.