Continuing his dominance of the flat stages of this year’s race, Andrea Guardini made history today when he became the first rider to clock up ten stage victories in the event. The Farnese Vini – Selle Italia sprinter was first to the finish at the end of a rain-lashed stage to Kuala Terengganu, beating Matteo Pelucchi (Team Europcar), Raymond Kreder (Garmin Barracuda), Jacobe Keough (UnitedHealthcare) and others in the front group.
The victory was his fifth of this year’s race, adding to the five he clocked up in last year’s event.
“The Tour de Langkawi is very special to me as it was here where I took the first wins in my professional career,” he said at the finish. “Because of that, it is great to get the record of ten stage wins. I thank my team for the perfect lead out for the stage today."
Guardini’s triumph saw him retake the blue jersey of points leader from Astana’s Valentin Iglinskiy. The Kazahstan rider had scooped the lead in that competition two days ago, but was only able to finish sixth today. Guardini had also pipped him in the first of the day’s intermediate sprints, and while the two both ended the day with 79 points, the Italian’s better stage placings saw him retake that jersey.
“Before the first sprint, I saw the opportunity to get some points,” he said. “Without tiring my team, I got one point over Iglinskiy.”
After a long-distance break continuing Garmin Barracuda’s Nathan Haas, David McCann (RTS Racing Team), former race winner Anthony Charteau (Europcar) and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN Qhubeka) was hauled back minutes from the end, a big pileup split the bunch and delayed many riders.
Amongst those held up was the overall leader Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli – Selle Italia), but as the incident happened inside the final three kilometres, they were all given the same time. He consequently maintains his thirty second advantage over his team-mate Jose Rujano, another former winner of the race.
Victor Nino Corridor (Azad University) stays third, while Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana) remains fourth. He got clear during the stage but the danger was recognized and the move was quickly closed down.
“We still have to wait until tomorrow to see whether we can win the yellow jersey,” said Serpa. “We don't know what will happen but we hope that we have a better opportunity.”
According to his team manager Gianni Savio, the likely victory is down to the sixth stage of the race. In fact, each of his overall triumphs have rotated around a big performance there by his riders.
“For us, it was in Genting when we have the possibility to win,” he said. “We have studied it and had a good strategy in Genting to attack. After Genting, when all stages are flat, we had to protect our yellow jersey winner and we hope to finish tomorrow's final stage as the overall champions.”
The squad is also in line to take the team general classification. This too was a stated goal before the start of the race and the squad has dominated it thus far. It is a full twelve minutes and six seconds clear of Astana. Serpa is also the pending winner of the King of the Mountains classification.
Fast racing, break eventually goes clear:
Another overcast day awaited the riders at the start of the penultimate stage of the Tour de Langkawi, with those clouds turning to heavy rain very soon after the start in Kemasik. Multiple attacks were fired off before the first intermediate sprint in Dungun, 38.9 kilometres after the start, but nothing remained clear for long.
The bunch contested that first sprint together and there Harrif Salleh was first, ahead of Jacobe Keough (UnitedHealthcare). The two riders battling for the points competition, Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini Selle Italia) and Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana), placed third and fourth there, with the Italian inching closer to taking back the blue jersey.
Repeated attacks followed, with Paolo Locatelli Colnago) and Louis Crosby (New Zealand) getting clear and being joined by Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana) and Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia). However Dyachenko started the day fourth overall and the move was predictably chased down.
Another quartet tried at kilometre 88 and had more success. Garmin Barracuda’s Nathan Haas, David McCann (RTS Racing Team), former race winner Anthony Charteau (Europcar) and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN Qhubeka) quickly gained time and built a lead of over two and a half minutes.
McCann was first in the sprint at Kg Pela (km 99.6), crossing the prime line ahead of Van Rensburg, Charteau and Haas, after which the breakaway continued and had clocked up an average speed of 51 kilometres per hour in two hours of racing.
The Irishman was again first to the line at Kuala Berang (km 118.7), with Charteau, Van Rensburg and Haas second third, and fourth. The finish was just over 45 kilometres away at that point and this prompted the peloton – specifically, the Drapac Cycling team – to chase.
With 40 kilometres left, the gap was down to one minute 29 seconds, and this fell by 22 seconds over the next ten kilometres.
The gap continued to fall and was just twelve seconds with seven kilometres remaining. Haas tried to jump clear after that point but everything came back together. A massive bunch sprint looked possible, but a big crash inside the final three kilometres meant that a much smaller group sprinted it out for the victory.
Raymond Kreder (Garmin Barracuda) preempted Guardini’s jump, hitting out early, but the Italian was too strong and came through to take win number five at this year’s race, and ten in all.
He will have another chance tomorrow when the riders tackle the final stage, a 114.8 kilometre race from Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terenggannu.
Tour de Langkawi (2.HC), Malaysia:
Stage 9 results, Kemasik to Kuala Terengganu:
1 Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 165.7 kilometres in 3 hours 27 mins 6 secs
2 Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) same time
3 Raymond Kreder (Team Garmin - Barracuda) same time
4 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
5 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) same time
6 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) same time
7 Jani Tewelde Weldegaber (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
8 Mohammed Zamri Saleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) same time
9 Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) same time
10 Hariff Salleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) same time
11 James Williamson (New Zealand) same time
12 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) same time
13 Louis Crosby (New Zealand) same time
14 Alireza Haghi (Azad University Iran) same time
15 Dennis Van Niekerk (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
16 Christiano Benenati (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) same time
17 Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
18 Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
19 Alex Howes (Team Garmin - Barracuda) same time
20 Mathieu Claude (Europcar) same time
21 Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
22 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team) same time
23 Paolo Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) same time
24 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team) same time
25 Kevin Reza (Europcar) same time
26 Christian Delle Stelle (Colnago CSF Bardiani) same time
27 Michael Torckler (New Zealand) same time
28 Arin Iswana (Indonesia) same time
29 Alexander Khatuntsev (Team Rusvelo) same time
30 Misbah Rauf Nur (Malaysia) same time
31 Malcom Rudolph (Drapac Cycling Team) same time
32 Tesfay Habtemariam (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
33 Endra Wijaya (Indonesia) same time
34 Miguel Angel Nino Corredor (Azad University Iran) same time
35 Meran Russom (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
36 Agung Ali Syahbana (Indonesia) same time
37 Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) same time
38 Stefano Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) same time
39 Freddy Excelino Gonzalez Martinez (Azad University Iran) same time
40 José Humberto Rujano Guillen (Androni - Venezuela) same time
41 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Terengganu Cycling Team) same time
42 Jonathan Monsalve (Androni - Venezuela) same time
43 Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia) same time
44 Jun Rong Ho (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) same time
45 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Androni - Venezuela) same time
46 Choon Huat Goh (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) same time
47 Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
48 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Terengganu Cycling Team) same time
49 Muhamad Adiq Husaine Othman (Champion System) same time
50 Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team) same time
51 Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
52 Chris Butler (Champion System) same time
53 Jackson Rodriguez (Androni - Venezuela) same time
54 Niño Victor Corredor (Azad University Iran) same time
55 Amir Rusli (Drapac Cycling Team) same time
56 Carlos José Ochoa (Androni - Venezuela) same time
57 Suhardi Hassan (Malaysia) same time
58 Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing Team) same time
59 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo) same time
60 Valery Valynin (Team Rusvelo) same time
61 Kenichi Suzuki (Aisan Racing Team) same time
62 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin - Barracuda) same time
63 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) same time
64 Jai Crawford (RTS Racing Team) same time
65 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) same time
66 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Team MTN Qhubeka) same time
67 Sergey Klimov (Team Rusvelo) same time
68 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Team Rusvelo) same time
69 Adrian Hegyvari (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) same time
70 Joseph Cooper (New Zealand) same time
71 Ahmad Fallanie Ali (Malaysia) same time
72 Abbas Saeidi Tanha (Azad University Iran) same time
73 Craig Lewis (Champion System) same time
74 Jung Hwan Youm (Seoul Cycling) same time
75 Alessandro De Marchi (Androni - Venezuela) same time
76 Nathan Haas (Team Garmin - Barracuda) same time
77 David Mc Cann (RTS Racing Team) same time
78 Floris Goesinnen (Drapac Cycling Team) same time
79 Alex Coutts (RTS Racing Team) same time
80 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) same time
81 Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) same time
82 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana Pro Team) same time
83 Ramin Mizan Maleki (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) same time
84 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin - Barracuda) same time
85 Jun Bin Kim (Seoul Cycling) same time
86 Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan Racing Team) same time
87 Andrey Zeits (Astana Pro Team) same time
88 Ting Deng (Max Success Sports) 01:48
89 Hao Liu (Max Success Sports) same time
90 Yohann Gene (Europcar) 01:50
91 Xue Ming Xing (Max Success Sports) 01:56
92 Dadi Suryadi (Indonesia) same time
93 Behnam Khalilikhosroshahi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) same time
94 Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 02:47
95 Aaron Kemps (Champion System) same time
96 Roman Van Uden (New Zealand) 03:19
97 Anthony Charteau (Europcar) 03:36
98 Adam Semple (Drapac Cycling Team) same time
99 Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling Team) same time
100 Christophe Kern (Europcar) 03:39
101 Sukho Kang (Seoul Cycling) 03:52
102 Joon Yong Seo (Seoul Cycling) same time
103 Marco Canola (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 03:54
104 Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago CSF Bardiani) same time
105 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) same time
106 Pengfei Qi (Max Success Sports) same time
107 Parno Parno (Indonesia) same time
108 Masahiro Shinagawa (Aisan Racing Team) same time
109 Masakazu Ito (Aisan Racing Team) same time
110 Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team) same time
111 Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team) same time
112 Yong Li Ng (Azad University Iran) 04:27
113 Rhys Pollock (Drapac Cycling Team) 04:28
114 Mohamed Rizuan Zainal (Malaysia) same time
115 Hossein Nateghi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) same time
116 Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu Cycling Team) 04:43
117 Loh Sea Keong (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) same time
118 Anuar Manan (Champion System) same time
119 Chan Jae Jang (Terengganu Cycling Team) same time
General classification after 9 stages:
1 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Androni - Venezuela) 80 hours 18 mins 43 secs
2 José Humberto Rujano Guillen (Androni - Venezuela) 00:30
3 Niño Victor Corredor (Azad University Iran) 00:56
4 Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana Pro Team) 02:20
5 Jackson Rodriguez (Androni - Venezuela) 03:43
6 Stefano Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 04:15
7 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 04:23
8 Andrey Zeits (Astana Pro Team) 04:28
9 Dennis Van Niekerk (Team MTN Qhubeka) 04:33
10 Joseph Cooper (New Zealand) 04:44
11 Chris Butler (Champion System) 05:09
12 Thomas Peterson (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 05:17
13 Jai Crawford (RTS Racing Team) 05:18
14 Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 06:02
15 Jonathan Monsalve (Androni - Venezuela) 06:13
16 Jani Tewelde Weldegaber (Team MTN Qhubeka) 06:14
17 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo) 06:32
18 Craig Lewis (Champion System) 06:33
19 Muhamad Adiq Husaine Othman (Champion System) 06:49
20 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Team MTN Qhubeka) 07:00
21 Carlos José Ochoa (Androni - Venezuela) 07:14
22 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Terengganu Cycling Team) 07:25
23 Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 07:35
24 Jung Hwan Youm (Seoul Cycling) 08:47
25 Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 08:49
26 Michael Torckler (New Zealand) 09:22
27 Sergey Klimov (Team Rusvelo) 10:32
28 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team) 10:50
29 Ramin Mizan Maleki (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 11:33
30 Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka) 11:53
31 Kenichi Suzuki (Aisan Racing Team) 12:03
32 Alessandro De Marchi (Androni - Venezuela) 12:12
33 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Team Rusvelo) 12:17
34 Abbas Saeidi Tanha (Azad University Iran) 13:19
35 Marco Canola (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 13:35
36 Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Malaysia) 14:07
37 Dadi Suryadi (Indonesia) 14:11
38 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Terengganu Cycling Team) 14:17
39 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) 14:54
40 Masakazu Ito (Aisan Racing Team) 15:30
41 Freddy Excelino Gonzalez Martinez (Azad University Iran) 15:38
42 Alex Coutts (RTS Racing Team) 15:53
43 Kevin Reza (Europcar) 15:57
44 Nathan Haas (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 15:58
45 Amir Rusli (Drapac Cycling Team) 16:03
46 Anthony Charteau (Europcar) 16:39
47 Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team) 16:43
48 Alexander Khatuntsev (Team Rusvelo) 17:00
49 Agung Ali Syahbana (Indonesia) 17:25
50 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) 18:18
51 Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling Team) 18:41
52 Ting Deng (Max Success Sports) 18:54
53 Tesfay Habtemariam (Team MTN Qhubeka) 18:55
54 Chan Jae Jang (Terengganu Cycling Team) 19:28
55 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 19:38
56 Misbah Rauf Nur (Malaysia) 19:40
57 Adam Semple (Drapac Cycling Team) 20:04
58 Xue Ming Xing (Max Success Sports) 20:20
59 Endra Wijaya (Indonesia) 20:44
60 David Mc Cann (RTS Racing Team) 21:06
61 Jun Rong Ho (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 21:17
62 Suhardi Hassan (Malaysia) 21:41
63 Floris Goesinnen (Drapac Cycling Team) 21:56
64 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana Pro Team) 23:03
65 Yohann Gene (Europcar) 23:37
66 Aaron Kemps (Champion System) 23:46
67 Mathieu Claude (Europcar) 23:48
68 James Williamson (New Zealand) 25:41:00
69 Meran Russom (Team MTN Qhubeka) 25:56:00
70 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 26:35:00
71 Ahmad Fallanie Ali (Malaysia) 27:37:00
72 Christian Delle Stelle (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 27:47:00
73 Mohamed Rizuan Zainal (Malaysia) 28:20:00
74 Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing Team) 28:22:00
75 Hossein Nateghi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 29:13:00
76 Alireza Haghi (Azad University Iran) 29:21:00
77 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team) 29:22:00
78 Joon Yong Seo (Seoul Cycling) 29:32:00
79 Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 29:49:00
80 Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 30:06:00
81 Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 30:10:00
82 Jun Bin Kim (Seoul Cycling) 30:44:00
83 Miguel Angel Nino Corredor (Azad University Iran) 30:52:00
84 Jae Won Lee (Seoul Cycling) 31:09:00
85 Pengfei Qi (Max Success Sports) 31:27:00
86 Masahiro Shinagawa (Aisan Racing Team) 32:26:00
87 Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) 33:14:00
88 Roman Van Uden (New Zealand) 33:21:00
89 Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 33:24:00
90 Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu Cycling Team) 33:33:00
91 Christiano Benenati (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 33:51:00
92 Choon Huat Goh (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 34:19:00
93 Valery Valynin (Team Rusvelo) 34:23:00
94 Behnam Khalilikhosroshahi (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team) 35:50:00
95 Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team) 37:00:00
96 Arin Iswana (Indonesia) 38:16:00
97 Paolo Locatelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 38:44:00
98 Alex Howes (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 38:47:00
99 Malcom Rudolph (Drapac Cycling Team) 38:53:00
100 Loh Sea Keong (Ocbc Singapore Continental Cycling Team) 38:54:00
101 Yong Li Ng (Azad University Iran) 39:18:00
102 Hariff Salleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) 39:26:00
103 Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 39:37:00
104 Mohammed Zamri Saleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) 39:41:00
105 Anuar Manan (Champion System) 40:30:00
106 Christophe Kern (Europcar) 40:40:00
107 Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan Racing Team) 41:19:00
108 Hao Liu (Max Success Sports) 42:55:00
109 Raymond Kreder (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 43:30:00
110 Rhys Pollock (Drapac Cycling Team) 45:31:00
111 Parno Parno (Indonesia) 45:32:00
112 Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 45:56:00
113 Adrian Hegyvari (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 46:20:00
114 David Zabriskie (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 46:40:00
115 Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 47:49:00
116 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) 47:59:00
117 Sukho Kang (Seoul Cycling) 48:18:00
118 Louis Crosby (New Zealand) 50:45:00
119 Chin Lung Huang (RTS Racing Team) 51:20:00