Having said yesterday that he believed he would get through today’s fifth stage of the Tour de Langkawi in yellow, overnight race leader Dave Zabriskie instead cracked on the 190 kilometre route between Ayer Keroh and Pandan Indah, losing 19 minutes and 35 seconds.
The unexpected weakening saw him finish second-last on the stage, with Drapac Cycling Darren Lapthorne taking over the race lead.
Lapthorne had started the day third overall but moved up due to Zabriskie’s weakness and the withdrawal from the race of the rider sitting in second place overall, Adam Phelan (Drapac Cycling).
Lapthorne’s team-mate had crashed earlier this week.
Today’s stage victory went down to a two-up scrap between the Australian and the former race winner Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli – Venezuala), after the latter caught the former inside the final two kilometres.
Serpa led out the gallop from a long way out and while Lapthorne tried to come around him, he didn’t have the strength to do so.
Still, he ended up on the podium wearing a new yellow jersey; it’s a significant moment in his career, and he said that it is one he wasn’t expecting.
“I’m surprised as I didn’t think Zabriskie would fall back today,” said Lapthorne at a press conference held immediately after the prize presentation. “I thought he had such a good lead, and also my team-mate Adam Phelan – who was coming second overall – pulled out earlier in the stage.
“When I heard that during the race that my team-mate and Zabriskie were off the back, it gave me extra motivation, I thought there was chance that maybe I would become race leader tonight.”
The two riders completed the race eleven seconds ahead of five chasers, who were led home by Farnese Vini – Selle Italian rider Matteo Rabottini. The group also contained Adiq Othman (Champion System), Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana), Victor Nino Corridor (Azad University) and Ghader Mizbani (Tabriz PetrochemicalTeam).
Many of the main GC riders came in as part of a large group a further 13 seconds behind. This number includes the American Tom Danielson, who goes from fourth to second overall. Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro team) moves up to third, 46 seconds back, while the 2010 race winner Jose Rujano is now fourth.
According to Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela team manger Gianni Savio, the latter’s team-mate Serpa is likely to ride for Rujano. However today’s winner kept open the possibility that he could shine himself.
“I hope to be able to do what I did on my first visit to Malaysia in 2006, winning on a flat stage finish and then the day after winning up to Genting,” he said. “This is my seventh victory here, and this is my first victory as a dad. So I’m happy.”
Early break sets tone for the stage:
128 riders started the fifth stage of the race in Air Keroh, with warm, bright conditions contrasting with the heavy rainfall and overcast skies which preceded the previous stage.
The route was the toughest yet in the 2012 Tour de Langkawi, with the category two climbs of Bukit Tangga (km 102) and Genting Perez (km 148.8) rearing up before the category three ascent of Bukit Tinjau, ten kilometres from the end of the stage.
Immediately after the official start of racing, a break of five riders moved clear. These included King of the Mountains Floris Goesinnen, Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team), Nicholas Francesco Squillari and Sea Keong Loh (OCBC Singapore) plus Ali Ahmad Fallanie (Malaysia). The bunch reacted to chase them down by kilometre five, splitting temporarily in the process.
Further attacks followed by things were all together for the first intermediate sprint, that at Tampin (km 31.3). There, Salleh Harrif (Terengganu) beat Hassan Suhardi (Malaysia) and Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini Selle Italia) for the prime.
The bunch split and reformed a couple of times, keeping the pressure on the riders. That pace ensured that 47.8 kilometres were covered in the first hour of racing, and also saw OCBC Singapore rider Marcus Leong and Drapac’s Adam Phelan withdraw. The latter had been sitting second overall, and so his retirement was of major importance.
Salleh was triumphant again in the second intermediate sprint, finishing ahead of Jacobe Keough (United Healthcare) and Surhardi into Chembong (km 54.8).
Soon after, a group of twelve went clear, with the number including mountains leader Goesinnen, yesterday’s breakaway rider Louis Crosby (New Zealand), former Vuelta a Espana stage winner Robert Forster (United Healthcare) and nine others. They were chased down by the Garmin team and things came back together just before the third intermediate gallop in Senawang, 75.7 kilometres after the start.
There, Goesinnen beat Ghader Misbani (Tabriz Petrochemical team) and James Williamson (New Zealand).
Vinokourov part of next break:
A more dangerous looking move clipped away very soon afterwards, and contained riders such as Asian favourite Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Goesinnen, Williamson, Mizbani Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela), Craig Lewis (Champion System), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli), Paolo Locatelli (Colnago - CSF Inox), Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini), Anthony Charteau, Yohann Gene (Europcar), Joseph Cooper (New Zealand), Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) and Rhy Pollock (Drapac).
They had established a lead of twenty seconds by kilometre 83, but split into a smaller quartet of Gene, Pollock, Williamson and De Marchi soon afterwards. The others were recaptured while those four persisted and had a gap of just under four minutes when they started the first of the day’s two categorized climbs, Bukit Tangga.
Williamson was first to the top there, ahead of Pollock, De Marci and Gene. He was concerned by the time gap drop to one minute and pushed on ahead alone, extending his lead to one minute 40 seconds over chaser Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu).
His three former breakaway companions were sandwiched inbetween the two individuals and regained contact with Williamson approximately 115 kilometres into the stage. Fukushima kept chasing and finally succeeded in bridging at kilometre 132.
However it was all in vain, as the peloton got back up to them ten kilometres later, on the slopes of Gening Perez.
Race leader Dave Zabriskie blew up on the ascent and lost his grip on the yellow jersey. Meanwhile Matteo Rabottini was first to the summit of the climb, taking maximum KOH points ahead of Adiq Othman (Champion System), Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela) and Chan Jae Jang (Terengganu Cycling Team).
On the descent of the climb, Malaysian sprinter Anuar Manan (Champion Systems) crashed. Fortunately his injuries were not serious and he was able to continue on to the finish. Meanwhile last year’s race winner Yonnatha Monsalve (Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela), Adiqu Othman, Rabottini and Andrey Zeits (Astana) clipped away and had established a 38 second lead over lone chaser Michael Torckler (New Zealand) with 25 kilometres to go.
There was a further reshuffle after the day’s final climb, with Serpa, Rabottini, Mizbani, Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling), Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team), Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Terengganu Cycling Team), Othman and Victor Nino Corridor (Azad University) pushing ahead.
Lapthorne then attacked from this group with five kilometres to go, holding a solo lead until Serpa bridged across with one kilometre remaining.
The latter proved quickest in the dash for the line, but the Australian rider also secured a place atop the podium through taking over the race lead. Whether or not he holds it will depend on what happens on tomorrow’s crucial stage to Genting Highlands.
Tour de Langkawi (2.1), Malaysia: Stage 5, Ayer Keroh to Pandan Indah:
1 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Androni - Venezuela) 187.2 kilometres in 4:32:17
2 Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling Team)
3 Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 00:11
4 Muhamad Adiq Husaine Othman (Champion System)
5 Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team)
6 Niño Victor Corredor (Azad University Iran)
7 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
8 Jani Tewelde Weldegaber (Team MTN Qhubeka) 00:24
9 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team)
10 Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team)
11 Freddy Excelino Gonzalez Martinez (Azad University Iran)
12 Hossein Nateghi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
13 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Terengganu Cycling Team)
14 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
15 Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia)
16 Xue Ming Xing (Max Success Sports)
17 Yohann Gene (Europcar)
18 Chan Jae Jang (Terengganu Cycling Team)
19 Amir Rusli (Drapac Cycling Team)
20 Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka)
21 David Mc Cann (RTS Racing Team)
22 Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
23 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling)
24 Adam Semple (Drapac Cycling Team)
25 Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
26 Christian Delle Stelle (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
27 Masakazu Ito (Aisan Racing Team)
28 Dadi Suryadi (Indonesia)
29 Hossein Alizadeh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
30 Ramin Mizan Maleki (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
31 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo)
32 Alessandro De Marchi (Androni - Venezuela)
33 Alexander Khatuntsev (Team Rusvelo)
34 Abbas Saeidi Tanha (Azad University Iran)
35 Jonathan Monsalve (Androni - Venezuela)
36 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Team MTN Qhubeka)
37 Jackson Rodriguez (Androni - Venezuela)
38 Agung Ali Syahbana (Indonesia)
39 Jai Crawford (RTS Racing Team)
40 Dennis Van Niekerk (Team MTN Qhubeka)
41 Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia)
42 José Humberto Rujano Guillen (Androni - Venezuela)
43 Chris Butler (Champion System)
44 Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia)
45 Carlos José Ochoa (Androni - Venezuela)
46 Sergey Klimov (Team Rusvelo)
47 Anthony Charteau (Europcar)
48 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team)
49 Thomas Danielson (Team Garmin - Barracuda)
50 Joseph Cooper (New Zealand)
51 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Team Rusvelo)
52 Kenichi Suzuki (Aisan Racing Team)
53 Alex Coutts (RTS Racing Team)
54 Stefano Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
55 Andrey Zeits (Astana Pro Team)
56 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin - Barracuda)
57 Jung Hwan Youm (Seoul Cycling)
58 Craig Lewis (Champion System)
59 Marco Canola (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
60 Mat Amin Shahrul (Terengganu Cycling Team)
61 Kevin Reza (Europcar) 00:56
62 Mohamed Rizuan Zainal (Malaysia) 01:31
63 Ting Deng (Max Success Sports)
64 Arin Iswana (Indonesia)
65 Mathieu Claude (Europcar)
66 Tesfay Habtemariam (Team MTN Qhubeka)
67 Aaron Kemps (Champion System)
68 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
69 Jun Rong Ho (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team)
70 Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar)
71 Roman Van Uden (New Zealand)
72 Misbah Rauf Nur (Malaysia)
73 Hao Liu (Max Success Sports)
74 Michael Torckler (New Zealand)
75 Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
76 Endra Wijaya (Indonesia)
77 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana Pro Team)
78 Ahmad Fallanie Ali (Malaysia) 03:20
79 Jun Bin Kim (Seoul Cycling)
80 Suhardi Hassan (Malaysia)
81 Meran Russom (Team MTN Qhubeka) 04:45
82 Yong Li Ng (Azad University Iran)
83 Christiano Benenati (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 05:03
84 Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia)
85 Christophe Kern (Europcar)
86 Floris Goesinnen (Hoornse Ren En Toerclub)
87 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) 07:34
88 Nathan Haas (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 11:04
89 Alex Howes (Team Garmin - Barracuda)
90 Valery Valynin (Team Rusvelo) 11:16
91 Paolo Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
92 Mohammed Zamri Saleh (Terengganu Cycling Team)
93 Behnam Khalilikhosroshahi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
94 Hariff Salleh (Terengganu Cycling Team)
95 Alireza Haghi (Azad University Iran)
96 Pengfei Qi (Max Success Sports)
97 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team)
98 Iwan Setiawan (Indonesia)
99 Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing Team)
100 Malcom Rudolph (Drapac Cycling Team)
101 Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago CSF Bardiani)
102 Louis Crosby (New Zealand)
103 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team)
104 Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team)
105 Masahiro Shinagawa (Aisan Racing Team)
106 Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan Racing Team)
107 Adrian Hegyvari (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
108 Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
109 Joon Yong Seo (Seoul Cycling)
110 James Williamson (New Zealand)
111 Rhys Pollock (Drapac Cycling Team)
112 Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu Cycling Team)
113 Choon Huat Goh (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team)
114 Loh Sea Keong (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team)
115 Anuar Manan (Champion System)
116 Parno Parno (Indonesia)
117 Sukho Kang (Seoul Cycling) 14:04
118 Jaan Kirsipuu (Champion System)
119 Nicholas Francesco Squillari (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team)
120 Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis)
121 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team)
122 Miguel Angel Nino Corredor (Azad University Iran)
123 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 19:35
124 Raymond Kreder (Team Garmin - Barracuda)
General classification after stage 5:
1 Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling Team) 17:00:36
2 Thomas Danielson (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 00:37
3 Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team) 00:46
4 José Humberto Rujano Guillen (Androni - Venezuela)
5 Joseph Cooper (New Zealand) 00:51
6 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team) 00:53
7 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Androni - Venezuela) 01:08
8 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo) 01:11
9 Yohann Gene (Europcar) 01:12
10 Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 01:17
11 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team)
12 Craig Lewis (Champion System)
13 Alessandro De Marchi (Androni - Venezuela) 01:20
14 Carlos José Ochoa (Androni - Venezuela) 01:34
15 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Team MTN Qhubeka) 01:43
16 Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 01:44
17 Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 01:45
18 Jackson Rodriguez (Androni - Venezuela) 01:48
19 Muhamad Adiq Husaine Othman (Champion System) 01:50
20 Jani Tewelde Weldegaber (Team MTN Qhubeka)
21 Dennis Van Niekerk (Team MTN Qhubeka) 01:56
22 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin - Barracuda)
23 Jonathan Monsalve (Androni - Venezuela)
24 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Team Rusvelo) 01:57
25 Andrey Zeits (Astana Pro Team) 01:58
26 Niño Victor Corredor (Azad University Iran)
27 Xue Ming Xing (Max Success Sports) 02:12
28 Ramin Mizan Maleki (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 02:17
29 Hossein Alizadeh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 02:19
30 Stefano Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 02:20
31 Adam Semple (Drapac Cycling Team) 02:25
32 Jai Crawford (RTS Racing Team)
33 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) 02:33
34 Marco Canola (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 02:35
35 Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia) 02:37
36 Roman Van Uden (New Zealand) 02:39
37 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 02:40
38 Masakazu Ito (Aisan Racing Team) 02:41
39 Chris Butler (Champion System)
40 Freddy Excelino Gonzalez Martinez (Azad University Iran) 02:49
41 Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team) 02:50
42 Jung Hwan Youm (Seoul Cycling) 02:56
43 Sergey Klimov (Team Rusvelo) 03:03
44 Hossein Nateghi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 03:07
45 Abbas Saeidi Tanha (Azad University Iran) 03:14
46 Kenichi Suzuki (Aisan Racing Team) 03:15
47 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Terengganu Cycling Team) 03:17
48 Anthony Charteau (Europcar) 03:18
49 Kevin Reza (Europcar) 03:26
50 Christian Delle Stelle (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 03:30
51 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) 03:32
52 Tesfay Habtemariam (Team MTN Qhubeka) 03:33
53 Amir Rusli (Drapac Cycling Team) 03:35
54 Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia)
55 Aaron Kemps (Champion System) 03:39
56 Alexander Khatuntsev (Team Rusvelo) 03:44
57 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 04:12
58 Dadi Suryadi (Indonesia) 04:17
59 Chan Jae Jang (Terengganu Cycling Team)
60 Alex Coutts (RTS Racing Team) 04:22
61 Agung Ali Syahbana (Indonesia) 04:23
62 Mathieu Claude (Europcar) 04:26
63 Mat Amin Shahrul (Terengganu Cycling Team) 04:33
64 Jun Rong Ho (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 04:48
65 Arin Iswana (Indonesia) 04:54
66 Endra Wijaya (Indonesia) 05:02
67 Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka) 05:04
68 Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 05:20
69 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana Pro Team) 05:25
70 Misbah Rauf Nur (Malaysia) 05:30
71 Floris Goesinnen (Hoornse Ren En Toerclub) 05:46
72 Michael Torckler (New Zealand) 05:51
73 Meran Russom (Team MTN Qhubeka) 06:04
74 Mohamed Rizuan Zainal (Malaysia) 06:06
75 Hao Liu (Max Success Sports) 06:23
76 David Mc Cann (RTS Racing Team) 06:52
77 Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) 07:13
78 Ting Deng (Max Success Sports) 07:16
79 Suhardi Hassan (Malaysia) 07:32
80 Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 07:38
81 Christiano Benenati (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 07:41
82 Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 07:42
83 Jun Bin Kim (Seoul Cycling) 07:51
84 Yong Li Ng (Azad University Iran) 08:10
85 Ahmad Fallanie Ali (Malaysia) 08:40
86 Nathan Haas (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 11:54
87 Behnam Khalilikhosroshahi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 11:58
88 Malcom Rudolph (Drapac Cycling Team) 12:25
89 Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 12:43
90 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team) 13:02
91 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) 13:10
92 Alireza Haghi (Azad University Iran) 13:17
93 Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 13:25
94 Mohammed Zamri Saleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) 13:27
95 Rhys Pollock (Drapac Cycling Team)
96 Hariff Salleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) 13:28
97 Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan Racing Team) 13:55
98 Joon Yong Seo (Seoul Cycling) 14:05
99 James Williamson (New Zealand) 14:10
100 Masahiro Shinagawa (Aisan Racing Team) 14:13
101 Anuar Manan (Champion System) 14:20
102 Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing Team) 14:22
103 Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team) 14:34
104 Iwan Setiawan (Indonesia) 15:07
105 Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu Cycling Team) 15:15
106 Choon Huat Goh (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 15:49
107 Valery Valynin (Team Rusvelo) 16:10
108 Parno Parno (Indonesia) 16:17
109 Alex Howes (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 16:21
110 Miguel Angel Nino Corredor (Azad University Iran) 16:55
111 Pengfei Qi (Max Success Sports)
112 Christophe Kern (Europcar)
113 Paolo Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 17:39
114 Sukho Kang (Seoul Cycling) 17:41
115 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 18:31
116 Jaan Kirsipuu (Champion System) 18:39
117 Nicholas Francesco Squillari (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 18:53
118 Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 20:28
119 Loh Sea Keong (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 20:44
120 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) 20:56
121 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) 21:46
122 Raymond Kreder (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 22:47
123 Louis Crosby (New Zealand) 22:51
124 Adrian Hegyvari (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 22:52