Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) sprinted to victory in Kampar to claim the first stage of the 30th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi and reassert his sprint supremacy at a race where he claimed three wins last year.
Malucelli, who crashed the day ahead of the race and was nursing banged-up hands, charged through the finish line in the Perak township with a tin mining past and forested hilly backdrop ahead of Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure). It was the tightest of battles for the win, with Pickrell going early and Malucelli only just closing the gap. Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) claimed third.
There was little doubt that the sprinters would be determined to come out and play on the 193km stage from Shah Alam, given the climbing stages ahead. That didn't stop a wave of break attempts in the early part of the day, as riders set off in already hot and humid conditions, with the temperature over 30°C.
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The only KOM, a category 4 climb at Meru, provided the initial incentive, coming at just 9km into the stage. That was won by Petr Rikunov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu), so for Monday at least, he has the jersey, which in this case is bubbles rather than polka dots given the drink sponsorship, sewn up.
After that, the waves of attacks continued, ultimately with Aiman Rosli (Terengganu), Javier Ibanez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA), Pablo Carrascosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) and Liam Cuthbertson (St George Continental Cycling) forming a group of five out the front. Ibanez took the first intermediate sprint at 29km, and from the ever-shrinking lead group it was then Rosli that took the second at 48.2km
The riders continued to drop until it was just Ibanez and Stepanov out front for the third intermediate sprint at Teluk Intan at 149.8km into the day of racing. The top points went to Ibanez once again, and then they sat up and rejoined the XDS-Astana-led peloton, which was wearing the responsibility of making sure the day ended with a bunch sprint. It wasn't, however, all sewn up, as Ibanez and Stepanov were caught by a late attack from last year's stage 7 winner Zeb Kyffin (Terengganu), who was only pulled back within 2km of the line.
More to come ....
