March 19th, 2004 – At last month's Tour de Langkawi, Canada reached its objective of collecting UCI points. Eric Wolhberg, 17th, New Zealand Tour winner, took home the time trials of Melaka, and Roland Green finally made it to the summit of Genting Highlands in the 10th position of the final rankings. It was a UCI points race in which Canadian Gordon Fraser, riding with his trade team Health Pro Net, was the winner of the points classification.

With the goal achieved, it was still possible to do even better. Eric Wolhberg had a magnificent run during the fifth stage time trials of Melaka, riding the 18K course at an average of 50km/h edging the Columbian Marlon Perez (Colombia Sella Italia) by 13:17 and John Lieswyn (Health Net Pro) by 21:11. It was a stage where Roland Green passed a little to the side in his line relative to his performance on the Tanah Rata summit (2nd stage) where he finished 2:16 behind Colombian Marlon Perez. In the end, Roland placed 12th, 56:98 behind Eric.

Evidently, the Malaka goal (in regard to this fifth stage) was to enter with low expectations. It was not a question for the team to win the stage, let alone have a podium finish, but regardless Roland remained the leader of the team in anticipation of the upcoming Genting Highlands Summit, just prior to the final arrival at Kuala Lampur. Two reasons for this: The first is that Roland remained, without question, the best climber of the team, and he felt that his condition would improve leading up to the Genting Highlands if he could only manage to avoid too much wind. We must not forget that Roland did not make the New Zealand trip and his entry in Malaisia followed a season marred by a terrible accident.

This is a feeling that sprinter Charles Dionne knows all too well. Charles seriously injured his right thigh during a sprint in which he crashed hard. But cyclists like to play with irony and realize that they sometimes they need to take big risks to win and are fully aware of the potential danger. To use Charles as an example, the first mass sprint of the 6th stage at Johor Bahru saw the team work in favour of Charles with the last rider being Roland Green. Unfortunately, having dashed to the front of the pack too early, Charles was victimized by a crash just 300 meters from the finish. Certainly, at the Tour de Langkawi, Charles was not up to par with the four or five cyclist surrounding him which included Italians Ivan Quaranta (Fromaggi Pinzolo Fiave) and Luciano Pagliarini (Lampre) and his crash most certainly was in the back of his head.

With rest at Johor Bahru, where the Tour turns before Singapore to re-embark on the road to the north and Kuala Lumpur, the situation was as follows: three Colombians at the top of the general classification, who seemed blessed with good luck rather then misfortune, were preparing to put their stamp on the course.

As for us, our situation was not all that bad: a stage victory for Eric and realistic chances for Roland and Eric to place amongst the top 15 in the overall general classification. On top of this, our team was complete and we were recovering from previous setbacks. The illness that Peter Wedge incurred during the first day and the crash that Alex Lavallee suffered were but distant memories. During the second stage, which ascended some 30K towards Tanah Rata, we came close to losing Peter who, without the support of an injured Alex, probably would not have finished the stage because he was so sick and had no strength. So there we were on the sixth day, at Johor Bahru, everybody was on deck and the team was holding on to fourth place in the team standings behind Barloworld, Colombia Selle Italia and relax Bodysol, and just ahead of Lampre and South Africa.

While waiting for Genting Highlands, we were hoping to find an opening but the Colombians and their allies were proving to be invincible, having sprinted away early in the stage causing Peter to slip twice. It was their recurring strategy and it made us regret having missed the two breakaways of the third and fourth stages, because the seventh and eighth stages which separated us from Genting Highlands, looked promising for teams composed of sprinters. As it so happens, this was the case as there were several moving sprints and several descents. You must also be aware that at the Tour de Langkawi, the Asian cyclists have a subsidiary stage and overall classification that is enthusiastically sought after and it must be said that sometimes they have kamikaze attitudes. From the start, we took a cautioned approach as the jagged crests of the Genting Highlands took form and the course was preparing to deliver its final ascents.

At the start of Kuala Lampur towards Genting Highlands, the atmosphere was much like every other big mountain stage start. Our plan for the course was simple: Roland had to arrive in a good position at the bottom of the Genting and provide help for the team, except for Eric who, if given the opportunity, could try something during the last intermediate sprint in which the riders often have a tendency of floating. The breakaway was off to a good start but took place earlier than expected and it was Dominique Perras who fought it, trying vainly to take his chance solo against the efforts of the giant Malaysian mountain, let's say for honour, because not far behind the Colombians were seriously starting to get agitated.

For us, another race was forming: from the car we were counting down the riders that were dropping out one by one. We encountered, Dominique, Alex and Cory, then a little further Charles, but still no sign of Peter, Eric or Roland as the peloton was thinning out. All of a sudden, Peter who was battling with all his heart was dropping out meter by meter. Then he found the will to survive and fought for the team general classification. In the time it took to pass refreshments to Peter, the Radio Tour announced over the air the following: The Columbians Marin and Gonzalez were pulling away from Dave Bruylands and Ryan Cox. Behind them, five riders including Roland and Eric had yielded at 5K from the summit, the hardest of them all. There was two 'barrages' to go before we would get to Roland. In his own style, taken from MTB, he was cycling hard, most of the time sitting. When we finally reached him, myself and Bruce were able to encourage him and share in his moment: a rare opportunity in stage races.

The red flag was passed when Roland fell victim to a loose chain. Bruce bolted from the car, re-attached the chain and sent him on his way as he road to a seventh place finish, 1:35 behind Colombian Ruber Marin. Roland found himself ninth in the overall general classification and was probably relieved to have re-gained his strength further re-assuring himself for the rest of the season. The final stage took place in the streets of Kuala Lumpur and should have been nothing but a mere formality but it did end up costing us a position in the individual general classification and the team classification following a mishap in the final sprint. However, this little mistake did not tarnish our overall outlook of having performed well in Malaysia.

Congratulations to all.

Jack Hardy, CCA