Le Tour De Langkawi 2015

GUARDINI DOES IT AGAIN
11 MARCH 2015

KUALA BERANG : Andrea Guardini again proved unstoppable in a bunch spritn when the Astana Pro Team rider took his third win of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2015 in a bunch sprint in Stage Four from Kota Baru to Kuala Berang today.

Guardini, 27, beat Team Southeast's Jakub Mareczko to the finish line, with Orica-GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan finishing third this time but held on to both the overall general classification and points classification leads. This was also Guardini's 17th ever win in the race's history, extending even further his already impressive record.

"I am happy with the way the sprint went. I managed a really good sprint to take this win. Today was a really fast paced stage with the speed in the earlier part already very high at 50 to 60 kp/h," said Guardini.

"I then had a good lead-out and I took a good risk, then the job was done. For the moment, this is a good result. But for now, I think I can do more than this."  

A five-man breakaway of United Healthcare's Jonathan Clarke, Bretagne-Seche Environnement's Pierre-Luc Perichon, Synergy Baku's Elchin Asadov, Skydive Dubai's Vladimir Gusev and Pegasus Jamalidin Novardianto escaped the peloton after 30km of the 165km stage and they took all the intermediate points on offer for the day before the peloton caught them 2km from the finish.

Ewan lost out to Guardini and had to settle for third this time, but was not raising his hopes to much when asked about his chances of keeping the overall lead to the end of the race.

"I climbed well yesterday and tried to just stay in the group. But I'm not really a pure climber. I prefer to sprint. It depends on the day. If I feel good on the day, then I can climb well, but if I don't then it will be the other way around," said Ewan, who won Stage 3 yesterday after surviving the tough climb across the summit of Titiwangsa.

United Healthcare's Kiel Reijnen retained the mountains classification lead, as did Asian riders classification leader Zhang Wen Long of the Giant-Champion System team.

Stage Five is the longest stage of the race at 200km from Kuala Terengganu to Kuantan with coastal crosswinds and undulating terrain providing a different challenge to the peloton, which could provide an opportunity for a differnet rider to take the top step of the podium.

STAGE 4 - Stage Result
Kota Bharu - Kuala Berang 11 March 2015

PL	No.	Nat	Name	TM	Team	Time
1	1	ITA	Guardini,Andrea	AST	Astana Pro Team	3h43’14"
2	85	ITA	Mareczko,Jakub	STH	Southeast	3h43’14"
3	21	AUS	Ewan,Caleb	OGE	Orica Greenedge	3h43’14"
4	65	ALG	Reguigui,Youcef	MTN	MTN - Qhubeka	3h43’14"
5	75	USA	Hanson,Kenneth	UHC	UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling	3h43’14"
6	113	MAS	Salleh,Harrif	TSG	Terengganu Cycling Team	3h43’14"
7	17	AUS	Sutton,Christopher	SKY	Team Sky	3h43’14"
8	193	TUN	Chtioui,Rafaa	SKD	Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team	3h43’14"
9	143	UKR	Surutkovych,Oleksandr	BCP	Synergy Baku Cycling Project	3h43’14"
10	124	JPN	Komori,Ryohei	AIS	Aisan Racing Team	3h43’14"

LIMA'15 THE LANGKAWI INTERNATIONAL MARITIME & AEROSPACE EXHIBITION

 

 

 

17 - 21 March 2015 - Pulau Langkawi

This bi-annual event is organized by the Ministry of  Tourism and Culture Malaysia and is held in conjunction with LIMA 2015.
Organizer:
Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia (MOTAC)

Langkawi Tourism And Economy

Economy

An agro-based economy of padi and rubber cultivation and fisheries is fast being overtaken by a tourism-driven economy, taking into consideration the natural, unspoiled, ecological beauty of the island and major governmental emphasis.
The Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) development program is a Malaysia Government initiative to accelerate economic growth in the north of Peninsular Malaysia – encompassing the states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang and the north of Perak.
The target for NCER is to achieve increased tourism receipts per visitor from MYR1,890 (US$600) in 2005 to MYR3,034 (US$963) by 2012.
Annual tourist expenditure is targeted to increase from MYR9.0 billion (US$2.86 billion) in 2005 to MYR21.8 billion (US$6.9 billion) in 2012 and MYR64.5 billion (US$20.4 billion) in 2020.

Tourism

The Langkawi Sky Bridge above the rainforest canopy

 

On 1 June 2007, Langkawi Island was given a World Geopark status by UNESCO. Three of its main conservation areas in Langkawi Geopark are Machincang Cambrian Geoforest Park, Kilim Karst Geoforest Park and Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest park (Island of the Pregnant Maiden Lake). These three parks are the most popular tourism area within Langkawi Geopark. In 2014 Unesco issued a 'yellow card' warning threatening the status of the Geopark.


The Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (The Kilim River)
This area actually consists of three river estuaries that stretch from the Kisap village approximately 10 km to Tanjung Rhu and they are all interconnected. They are rich in wildlife and tourists may see hairy nosed sea otters, brown winged kingfishers, monitor lizards and swimming macaque monkeys. Limestone, inherently porous, forms caves and there are several in the mangroves. One of Langkawi's natural beauty spots is the Pirate Lagoon just outside the river. Technically this is a collapsed cave (hong) consisting of a cave entrance from the sea emerging into a hidden lagoon with towering, limestone escarpments and smaller caves.
 
Langkawi Islands
There are two island areas: the Southern Islands, with a heavy tourist population and the islands to the north east which are more secluded without tourist traffic. Langun Island has a fresh-water lake like Pregnant Maiden Lake only without the tourists and has Sand Spit Beach on its south-facing orientation. Dendang Island next to it forms a bay popular with Langkawi sailing yacht tour operators who favour the area for its natural beauty and peace.
Some of the most popular beaches are Pantai Cenang, Pantai Tengah, Burau Bay, Pantai Kok, and Datai Bay. Pantai Cenang is a picturesque beach with seemingly unending stretches of fine white sand. It has numerous restaurants and bars for evening entertainment, several hosting live music and for watching the sun set. The beach is contoured by tall coconuts and casuarinas. Pantai Tengah is separated from Cenang by a small cape. It too faces the setting sun and is populated more by hotels than bars, making it less busy in the evening. Burau Bay, fringed by rocky outcrops, is the favourite place of migratory birds in Langkawi. Pantai Kok is a peaceful beach with the backdrop of limestone hills. Datai Bay has a combination of forests and sea. The milky beach is backed by lush forest.
The Langkawi Cable Car takes visitors up to the peak of Gunung Mat Chinchang, where the Langkawi Sky Bridge is located. The Sky Bridge has been closed for 2 years and remains closed in 2014.

Tourists can enter the island via ferry from Kuala Perlis or by flight from Kuala Lumpur. AirAsia and Fireflyz provides budget connection to the island.

Geography and Demographics

Langkawi, a cluster of 105 islands separated from mainland Malaysia by the Straits of Malacca, is a district of the state of Kedah in Northern Malaysia and lies approximately 51 km west of Kedah. The total land mass of the islands is 47,848 hectares. The main island spans about 25 km from north to south and slightly more for east and west. The coastal areas consist of flat, alluvial plains punctuated with limestone ridges. Two-thirds of the island is dominated by forest-covered mountains, hills and natural vegetation.
The island's oldest geological formation, Gunung Matchincang, was the first part of South-East Asia to rise from the seabed in the Cambrian period more than half a billion years ago. The oldest part of the formation is observable at Teluk Datai to the north-west of the island, where the exposed outcrop consists of mainly sandstone (quartzite) in the upper parts and shale and mudstone in the lower parts of the sequence.

Demographics

Islam is practised primarily by ethnic Malays. Other major religions are Hinduism (mainly among Indians), Buddhism (mainly among Chinese and Thai) and Christianity (mostly Chinese).
Only four of the 99 islands are inhabited - Pulau Langkawi (the main island), Pulau Tuba, Pulau Rebak and Pulau Dayang Bunting. The population is approximately 99000 of which 90% are Malays. The other ethnic groups consist mainly of Chinese, Indians and Thais.

History Of Langkawi

Dataran Helang (Eagle Square)

Langkawi means island of the reddish-brown eagle in colloquial Malay. The Malay word for eagle is helang - which is shortened to "lang". It was given the title of "Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah" in 2008 by Kedah's Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah as part of his golden jubilee to impress on tourists that it was part of Kedah.

History

A panoramic view of Kuah town, the commercial center of Pulau Langkawi.

Langkawi was traditionally thought to be cursed. However, in 1986 then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad decided to transform it into a tourist resort, helping to plan many of the islands buildings himself.

Langkawi

Langkawi, officially known as Langkawi the Jewel of Kedah (Malay: Langkawi Permata Kedah) is an archipelago of 104 islands in the Andaman Sea, some 30 km off the mainland coast of northwestern Malaysia. The islands are a part of the state of Kedah, which is adjacent to the Thai border. On 15 July 2008, Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah had consented to the change of name to Langkawi Permata Kedah in conjunction with his Golden Jubilee Celebration. By far the largest of the islands is the eponymous Pulau Langkawi with a population of some 64,792, the only other inhabited island being nearby Pulau Tuba. Langkawi is also an administrative district with the town of Kuah as largest town. Langkawi is a duty-free island