Lennart Jasch declares arrival as GC force with Le Tour de Langkawi overall victory, Matteo Malucelli claims stage 8 sprint to deliver three stage wins for 2026

On the final stage to Putrajaya, Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) sprinted to his third win in the 2026 edition of Le Tour de Langkawi while Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) finished off a stellar first run at team leadership by keeping his firm grip on the leader's jersey right from stage 2 to the final finish line.

The 25-year-old German rider claimed the overall win after delivering a flawless run through the rest of the eight-stage Malaysian race. He took out his first tour victory with a margin of 26 seconds to Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA). The Spanish team also rounded out the podium of the race, which this year had three summit finishes to deepen the climbing battles, with Jan Castellon in third place on the GC at 42 seconds. Jasch and his team also managed to keep his lead in the Bubbles KOM jersey while they were at it.

In the final stage of the 30th edition of the event the sprinters were determined to prevail, chasing down the relentless series of breaks before Malucelli got his chance to cross the finish line and celebrate his ninth victory at the race from across the last three years. Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure), who won stage 6, took his third second place for the edition while it was Christian Van Rees (Picnic PostNL) in third.

"It's really hot and the team did an amazing job, we controlled the race also with Modern Adventure. I tried to save a lot of energy the last two days and I won the last stage. I have three like last year and like two years ago so now maybe I'm second in the most victories," said Maucelli in the post race broadcast interviews.

The Italian rider shares that second spot with Australia's Graeme Brown while Andrea Guardini has set a very high bar in first, with the Italian rider having claimed 24.

How it Unfolded

The final stage was a 188.3km run to Putrajaya – home to the Prime Minister's office – and was earmarked as a sprinter's stage, but so was stage 7 when the break prevailed. Perhaps encouraged by this an intense battle for the break unfurled shortly after the 109 remaining riders rolled out to start the race in the waterside location of Muar.

The attacks kept rolling, with Petr Rikunov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu), who started the day with a four-point deficit to Jasch in the competition to clinch the climber's jersey, among them. He was clearly determined to try and close the gap by getting in the break so he could grab the six points on offer at the category 3 climb at Bukit Mantin with 55.3km to go. Tudor, however, were just as determined to stop him, sending a rider out to chase whenever the category rival went on the charge.

It wasn't until 35km into the day of racing that a group of six got a foothold with some longevity, the group including Ibai Azanza (Equipo Kern Pharma), Zeb Kyffin (Terengganu), Jonathan Caicedo (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu), Peerapol Chawchiangkwang (Thailand) pus Hijiri Oda and Rui Udagawa (Aisan). At the half-way mark the gap was two minutes but it plummeted on the way to the KOM, won by Chawchiangkwang, shrinking to just a little more than 20 seconds. That gave three riders the opportunity to make the junction, Javier Ibañez (Caja Rurual-Seguros RGA), Roy Hoogendorn (Picnic PostNL) and Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies). The group of nine also briely turned into a group of ten with Caja Rural-Serguros RGA getting another rider to the front in the form of Iker Vilar (Caja Rural).

However, the front group the split and shifted again, with six out the front at 27km to go. They were Udagawa, Azanza, Hoogendorn, Ibañez, Retailleau and Vilar.

At 18km to go the group had just under 30 seconds gap, with Tudor, Modern Adventure and XDS Astana having a common interest at the front through most of the race with Malucelli's team particularly prepared to drive hard as the race flew toward the finish line. The field was strung out as the pursuit ramped up and by around 13km it came back together. Mostly.

There were no shortage of efforts to get away but there was also no lack of determination behind to stop them and on stage 8 the sprinters had their day.

More to come ...

Results

Stage 8

Final General Classification

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