Asian Games champion Wong Kam-po bounced back from a poor start to the Tour of Langkawi to secure a top-20 finish in the second stage of the Malaysian event yesterday.
Although Wong, who excels in the mountains, still languishes close to the bottom of the 151-strong field, he said: 'I'm not worried as the gruelling mountain stages have still to come.' His performance yesterday in the 183.50km road race from Klang to Sitiawan did not significantly change the overall rankings because riders finished in a blanket sprint.
'The fourth stage [tomorrow] and ninth stage are very tough. The ninth stage [which finishes on the Genting Highlands] is notorious for splitting riders and I'm sure we'll come back one by one and the gap between strong and weak riders could be minutes. I'll see if I can make up lost ground in these two stages,' Wong said.
Wong moved up three places to 126th overall, being almost five minutes behind overall leader Robert Hunter, of Italian team Mapei Quick-Step. The Hong Kong ace faces a tough task in his defence of the best Asian rider crown as he is more than three minutes adrift of Filipino Arnel Quirimit, the highest ranked Asian.
He added: 'I didn't do well in the first stage because I have prepared for mountain terrain, not time trials. The Tour has been dominated by professional teams but I won't hesitate to break away if the chances come.'
Hunter won his second stage yesterday after clocking four hours, 19 minutes and 40 seconds. Wong is attempting to sign with a professional team by catching their attention in the 10-stage series, which ends next Sunday. It continues today.