Batam, Malaysia hosted the third stop of the 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Championship qualifying series this weekend, with over 700 cyclists participating in gran fondo and time trial events.

Racing began on Friday with a 15km individual time trial starting and finishing in Palm Spring Beach. In a break from previous UCI Gran Fondo World Championship qualifying events, riders could not use standard time trial equipment (i.e. time trial bikes, aero helmets, disc wheels and aero-bars) and had to ride a standard road bike.

American Jennifer Choi was the fastest women, stopping the clock in 24:50, followed by local rider Ponnie Ramirez (Nur Arfanah) at 25:08 and Alicia Brittain of South Africa in 25:20.

Taking top honors as the fastest man was Margus Uprus of Sweden, finishing in 20:58 with a very impressive average speed of 42.9kph on a non-aero bike setup. Next were a pair of South Africans, former rowing Olympic gold medalist Matthew Brittain at 21:21 and Luke Chambers at 21:38.

Another Swede, Carl Victor Pettersson won the 149km gran fondo on Saturday in 3:43:56, with Matthew Brittain once again finishing in second place five minutes later at 3:49:13. Muhammad Raihan Bin Mohd Airudin of Singapore was third in 3:51:33.

In a close sprint finish, Sri Suyamti of Indonesia won the women’s 119km gran fondo in 3:24:16, with Alicia Brittain in second place in 3:24:25 and Boram Seo of Korea coming across the line in 3:24:27 to take third.

Riders finishing in the top 25% of their age/gender category automatically qualify to attend the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships taking place in Aalborg, Denmark in October 2024.

Photo Credit: facebook/tourdebatam

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