Van Engelen shines for TSG in South Korea
KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) continued their strong form this season at the Tour of Gyeongnam, which concluded in South Korea today (June 8), with another top-three general classification finish.
This time it was TSG's Adne van Engelen who delivered, finishing third overall in the GC just 23 seconds adrift of overall winner Dylan Hopkins (13:10:52s) from the Roojai Insurance squad.
JCL Team Ukyo's Simone Raccani finished second overall (+19s) in the five-stage tour which ended in Changwon.
Van Engelen, who finished second in the second stage, also claimed second place overall in the mountains classification on 10 points, just one point behind Hopkins. Geumsan Insam Cello's Choe Hyeong Min was third (9pts).
TSG sprinter Wan Abdul Rahman Hamdan, better known by his nickname Achik, came close to finishing on the podium on Friday (June 6), coming in fourth in the third stage.
Van Engelen, who joined TSG this season, was pleased with the team's performances.
"We tried to attack early yesterday (June 7, fourth stage) but Ukyo were too strong and brought it back. There was no chance for us to score any bonus seconds," said van Engelen.
"The last three stages were quite flat so it was a bit tough to get any time back. We tried our best everyday but there were two riders (Hopkins, Raccani) who were stronger.
"But generally speaking it was a very good tour for us. Achik and Vadim Pronskiy also did well to score top-10 stage finishes for us.
"The team did good work here and can look forward to the rest of the season."
TSG did well to win the team GC at the Tour of Kumano in Japan earlier this month, with Mathias Bregnhoj coming second in the individual GC.
TSG also scored race wins at the Grand Prix Antalya (Abdul Rahman) and GP Syedra Ancient City (Stefan de Bod) in Turkiye earlier this season.
The Kuala Terengganu-based squad also dominated the National Road Cycling Championships in Johor last week, winning both the individual time trial and road race through Nur Aiman Rosli.
TSG will next race at the Yellow River Estuary Road Race in China on June 13-14.
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