Enter the Malaysian GC attack...

So many arguments ago, so many disappointments ago, we wondered. But we still struggle to figure out when a serious GC attack by any Malaysian will be mounted in Le Tour de Langkawi.
Thus, at this moment when Le Tour de Langkawi fever starts gripping the cycling fraternity, those questions come back to haunt us.
We know the road sprinters are building up well, with Anuar Manan, Ahmad Haidar Anuawar, Nor Rizuan Zainal, even Akmal Amrun looking good to stick it in at the front of bunch sprints again, leaving only that elusive victory to chase. But when does a Malaysian begin to dream of landing the Asian riders' classification, let alone the yellow jersey for general classification (GC).
The groundwork has been laid. At least as far as Le Tua Cycling Team is concerned. And it is up to that guy on the right in the picture above to make it work.
Personally, I've seen Ng Yong Li and buddy on the left Loh Sea Keong, slowly build themselves into riders on the verge of being able to mount a serious threat to the overall contenders.
I say on the verge, because neither of them have done it themselves, both domestiques with foreign teams since they started their serious careers. Both are just 22, will be 23 next year.
Yong Li, more than Ah Keong, is a pure climber. He's proved that he is the best Malaysian for that job by a mile in the past two editions of LTdL. But the best Malaysian thus far, had to work the Vitoria-ASC team up Genting in 2007, then this year had to lead the charge for Shinichi Fukushima in the Meitan Hompo-GDR team up Fraser's Hill as they finished off whatever was left of the Seoul City team that battles Meitan Hompo for the Asian riders' classification.
Enter Jeremy Yates, the Kiwi who's just come to an agreement, a month after Yong Li, to ride for Le Tua next year. He finished fourth, riding for the New Zealand national team in this year's LTdL, but it seems he has agreed to do everything for Yong Li this time around. So now add Jelajah Malaysia 2008 winner Tonton Susanto to that, and you probably will have the three best non-European, non-Colombian climbers in the race on Feb 9-16.
Le Tua's sprint train will work for Sayuti Zahit, with Razif Salleh and another Indonesian Samai Amari pulling him to the front for sprints. But this is Yong Li's story to write.
I'm not saying it is time to expect Yong Li to deliver. But he knows it is up to him to pull his socks up and now assume a leadership role in a team that has brought so much glory to Malaysian cycling in the past two years.
And I can't say he's not learned enough. He's been with the Wurth-Liberty Seguros team in Spain for two years (2005-2006), then created history by becoming Malaysia's first pro when he signed with Portuguese team Vitoria-ASC in 2007, then rode in France with Jap outfit Meitan Hompo-GDR this year.
If there's reason to suspect anything lacking in the skinny young bugger's repertoire, it is the experience of having a team work for him to go for victory instead of him being part of the 'workforce'.
But having done so much without much results, Yong Li should be hungry. He should be the one wanting to go and be the reason why the team gets a fat paycheck at the end of the race. That, Yong Li should understand himself.
In a world of lesser icons, Yong Li is Malaysia's biggest name in the mountain stages. He's no Indurain, no Armstrong, nothing like his former teammate Alberto Contador. But 2009 must be the year when Ng Yong Li begins the process of getting there.