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GIRO KING OF THE MOUNTAINS WINNER, RUJANO IS BACK WITH ISD-NERI

AFTER a low-key performance last year in Malaysia, Pro Continental Team ISD-Neri aims to make an impact on their second appearance in Le Tour de Langkawi 2010 with a strong line-up with expert climber and winner of the Giro d’Italia 2005 King of Mountains jersey, José Rujano.

27 year old Rujano, from Venezuela, who came to Malaysia with Colombia-Selle Italia in 2006 and with Unibet.com in 2007, will be back for the 15th edition with the Lamprorecchio, Italy registered team along-side three riders who made their first appearance last year, Bartosz Huzarsky (Poland), Denys Kostyuk and Vitaliy Kondrut of Ukraine.

Their fellow Ukrainian teammate, Ruslan Pidgorny and sole Italian rider in the line-up, Pierpaolo Denegri will help strengthen the ISD-Neri squad this year.

Rujano will not need a formal introduction to local fans due of his performance with Colombia-Selle Italia in 2005, which is still remembered where he competed with Ryan Cox in the intense climb to the top of Genting Highlands.

Biarpun tiba bersama-sama Cox di garisan penamat, kehandalan Rujano di LTdL 2005 itulah yang menjadi detiknya mencipta nama, sebelum membantu Colombia-Selle Itali memenangi Peringkat 19 di Giro d'Italia 2005 dan jersi Raja Bukit Giro, beberapa bulan selepas itu.Cox eventually won the stage and proceeded to win the 2005 overall title, Rujano’s outstanding performance in LTDL 2005 had made him the man to look out for, a few months later he helped Colombia-Selle Italia win Stage 19 and claimed the King of the Mountain Jersey in Giro d'Italia.

Rujano yang pernah bergelar juara ujian masa kebangsaan pada 2007, adalah juara Jelajah Colombia pada tahun lalu, memenangi empat peringkat, selain 2 peringkat di Vuelta a Tachira.Rujano who had been the national time trial champion in 2007, is also the winner of Vuelta a Colombia and Vuelta a Venezuela last year.

Selepas hanya memberi tumpuan di Amerika Selatan dengan menyertai pasukan Gobernacion del Zulia, dia yang pernah mewakili pasukan handalan dunia Quick Step-Innergetic pada 2006, Unibet.com (2007) dan Caisse d'Epargne (2008), akan menjadi salah seorang pelumba pilihan pada edisi ke-15 LTdL ini.After only focusing in South American races with team Gobernacion del Zulia, he had also represented world famous ProTour teams Quick Step-Innergetic in 2006, Unibet.com (2007) and Caisse d'Epargne (2008), Rujano will be one of the selected riders in the limelight in this year’s LTDL.

Alongside Rujano is 29 year old Polish rider, Huzarsky who ranked 34th overall in last year’s edition. The well experienced rider was with team MROZ and Intel Action before joining ISD last year.

Huzarsky won a stage in the Course de la Paix in 2003 and Baltyk-Karkonosze-Tour in 2005, and won the Mountains Classification in Tour du Pologne in 2005 and 2006. Among his other achievement was winning GP Dzierzoniowa, overall winner of Szlakiem Grodow Piastowskich and Szosami Zagłębia in 2008.

Seorang lagi pelumba harapan yang berpengalaman dari ISD-Neri adalah Pidgorny, pelumba 33 tahun yang pernah memenangi GP Nobili 2005, tempat kedua di Trofeo Matteotti 2006 dan tangga kedua keseluruhan Tour of Austria 2009.Another more experienced ISD-Neri rider is Pidgorny, the 33 year old won the GP Nobili in 2005, placed second in the Trofeo Matteotti 2006 and second overall in Tour of Austria 2009.

Kostyuk, 25, menduduki tangga ke-36 keseluruhan di LTdL 2009, pernah berkayuh untuk pasukan Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf pada 2004 dan berpengalaman berlumba di Asia seperti ketika memenangi Peringkat 3 Tour of Qinghai Lake 2006 di China bersama pasukan Intel-Action.Kostyuk, 25, ranked 36th overall in LTDL 2009, previously was with team Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf in 2004 and was familiar with races in Asia, such as winning Stage 3 of Tour of Qinghai Lake, China in 2006 with the Intel-Action team.

Teammates, Kondrut, 25, are expected to be the sprinter in the line-up with Italian rider, Denegri who’s just 23 years old.

Kostyuk, Kondrut and Denegri had raced in Tour de San Luis, in Argentina last January in early preparation and is expected to be ready for the challenge in Malaysia at the start of LTDL 2010, 1-7 March.

SENARAI PELUMBA ISD-NERI : -

JOSE RUJANO (VENEZUELA)
RUSLAN PIDGORNY (UKRAINE)
BARTOSZ HUZARSKY (POLAND)
DENYS KOSTYUK (UKRAINE)
PIERPAOLO DENEGRI (ITALY)
VITALIY KONDRUT (UKRAINE)

The 15th edition of the UCI (Hors Category) stage race will take place from Kota Bharu - Kuala Berang (174.5km); Kuala Terengganu - Chukai (182.3km); Pekan - Mersing (145.6km); Mersin-Parit Sulong (163.5km); Muar - Port Dickson (116.9km) Putrajaya - Genting Highlands (102.8km) and Kuala Kubu Baru - Dataran Merdeka (133.7km), covering a total distance of 1019.3km.

A total of 120 riders from 20 teams including two local teams are expected to take part in the event, Le Tour de Langkawi 2010.