Although Dave Zabriskie has said that he isn’t ruling himself out of contention for the final victory in the Tour de Langkawi, with his buffer of over a minute on the GC contenders giving him room for manoeuvre on the crucial sixth stage to Genting Highlands, Garmin Barracuda Director of Competitions Allan Peiper has suggested that Tom Danielson is a more likely prospect for overall success.
“I’m not sure how Dave Z is climbing at the moment,” he told VeloNation in a video interview carried out after the stage two finish. “From what Tom Danielson said to me, it is a really, really hard climb. Tom is talking about a couple of other dangers on the climb – we will see how we go when we get there.
“Tom has won the race before and he’s very motivated to come and put things into practice that he has been training on all winter. I think he did well yesterday [Friday – ed.], fourth in the time trial – he was very consistent, executed well. I think everything is going well.”
While Danielson and Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela rider Jose Rujano – who is ten seconds further back – are within striking distance, the TT specialist knows that a solid ride on the stage to Genting could potentially see him keep the jersey.
Peiper is more uncertain, but presumably both riders will get the chance to show what they can do on the cruel slopes of Wednesday’s climb.
In the video interview below, Peiper discusses this topic plus also the complexities of combining GC aspirations, the defence of a yellow jersey plus the efforts of Raymond Kreder and Nathan Haas to try to take the stage win.