Guardini takes fifth win in finale

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First year Venezuelan professional Jonathan Monsalve (Androni Giocattoli) held on to win the 2011 Tour de Langkawi in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, kick starting his professional career in impressive style.

The twenty-one year old finished safely in the peloton, with his arms in the air, knowing he had secured victory by just five seconds ahead of Colombia’s Libardo Nino Corredor (Le Tua Cycling Team).

Italian sprinter Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) ended the race the way he started, sprinting to his fifth win ahead of Germany’s Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare) and Malaysia’s Anuar Manan (Terengganu ProAsia Cycling Team).

Monsalve proudly wore the Venezuelan flag as he was presented with the overall title and was overjoyed to have won his first stage race.

“I’m very happy to win my first stage race as a professional,” said Monsalve. “This is the right way to begin a career. It’s good to do it being young. I’m also very happy to have won the stage to Genting because I knew it was hard. My compatriot Jose Rujano won it last year and I wanted to win it as well.”

Monsalve acknowledged the huge work his team did for him during the race.

“It’s a huge win for my team. After stage three they worked hard for the overall win and I’m delighted to be the winner here in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Libardo Nino (Le Tua Cycling Team) and Jonathan Monsalve were locked in a close battle after the mountain finish at Genting Highlands on stage five. The youngster praised Nino for his performance in his last professional race. Nino, the oldest man in the race at 43 years of age, will now return to Colombia to compete at a local level.

“I have a lot of respect for Libardo because he has raced a lot in the past and I’m very happy to have beaten him,” said Monsalve. “I wanted to win this week because I had prepared for this race since December and when I had two seconds deficit to Libardo, I knew I had to win the sprints and that’s how I managed to beat him.”

Andrea Guardini’s fifth sprint win topped off a great week for the young Italian. Only two men in the past have won five stages in the Tour of Langkawi: Australia’s Graeme Brown in 2004 and Italian Alberto Loddo in 2007.

“I’m very happy for my directeur sportif, Giuliani Stefano. We had a bet after stage two that if I won five stages, he would stop smoking. I waited for the tenth stage to make it happen, so I’m very pleased about that,” Guardini said.

“Of course I’m very happy to have won five stages in my first stage race as well as the points classification.”

Anuar Manan needed to win all the intermediate sprints and win the final stage to take the blue jersey from Guardini. He fought bravely, picking up points in the sprints but didn’t win the stage. Guardini congratulated him on his performance.

“Anuar rode well. He was very motivated to win the points classification. Unfortunately for him he lost about 15 points on stage seven when he didn’t sprint and I scored points all the time and that’s why I took the jersey home.”

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