Muhammad Raihaan Abd Aziz was Brunei's best finisher at the Langkawi International Mountain (MTB) Bike Challenge (LIMBC) prologue after coming in 35th yesterday.

Three national cyclists took on the 2.4km individual time trial to challenge for the leader's jersey at today's Stage 1 race.

Muhammad Rafiuddin Zikara rode through to take 58th position and Mohamad Nurjamri Johari finished in 76th at the Eagle Square track.

"The time trial track we did was easy since it was only a short distance and it was the exact same one we did last year," Raihaan told The Brunei Times.

"We all remembered the route so we knew what to expect.

"Stage 1 is going to be quite tricky because the weather has been against us, leaving the course all muddy.

"It will be difficult, but with all my experience and training it shouldn't be that hard," added Raihaan, who is using the tournament to prepare for the December's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar.

Raihaan finished 13th place in the International Cycling Union Marathon Series Race after battling 81km of rain-soaked terrain last Saturday.

Amongst the 70 riders who took on the course, only 31 managed to cross the finish line.

Nurjamri managed to finish 18th and Rafiuddin did not complete the race.

Rafiuddin, who is also using the tour as training for the SEA Games said, "It was a really good race for me but hopefully tomorrow I can do a lot better because I do feel confident about it."

"I was satisfied with the timing I picked up because I know the others here are strong riders who are in the world rankings," added Rafiuddin.

They will be taking on the 65km Stage 1 Langkawi Round Island trail today from one end of Lagenda Park to the other.

Frenchmen Maxime Marotte will be leading the pack today after rolling to first, followed by Switzerland's Nicola Rohrbach in second and Sweden's Emil Lindgren in third yesterday. The full LIMBC course is made up off five stages with a total of 197.1km.

Courtesy from Brunei Times