Saturday's stage 7 of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi was meant to be the second last day of racing for retiring Alexander Kristoff (UNO-X Mobility) but his retirement run was cruelly cut short when he fell halfway through the stage.
Visibly in pain as he stood on the side of the road, the rider quickly realised getting back on the bike was not an option and stepped away from racing for the last time ,not with the hoped for victory celebration but instead an injury.
The crash occurred at around 110km to go, Kristoff going down on a wide straight stretch of road in dry conditions along with his teammate Erlend Blikra. Fellow sprinter Blikra, who has stood on the stage podium four times so far at the event, got back on the bike and returned to the peloton.
Kristoff came to Le Tour de Langkawi with wins in mind, hoping to turn his career victory total from 98 to 100 before Sunday's final stage. There was a near miss on stage 3, with Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) beating the 38-year-old by just centimetres in a photo finish.
However, there were still expected to be two last sprint finishes left for the rider and both had features that played to the Norwegian's strengths. For a start, Saturdays stage was the longest at 214.9km, perfect for the 2014 Milan-San Remo winner.
"Today is long race," UNO-X Mobility sports director Leonard Snoeks told Cyclingnews in Melaka before the start of the stage. "So he's usually good when it comes across above 200k, that's usually when he wakes up."
Then on Sunday two category 2 climbs in the final 30km and that harder finish, Kristoff said earlier in the week, made it a potential opportunity.
Though, unfortunately there was no chance to put that to the test.
The two UNO-X Mobility riders appeared to be the only ones who came down when they fell on the right hand side, about mid way through the peloton, as it was approaching the feed zone with seven other riders out front in the break.
More to come ....
