After two runner up spots Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure) snared his Le Tour de Langkawi victory on stage 6, managing to get the better of Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) by taking out the short and sharp day of racing from Pandan Indah to Rembau.
It was a clear cut win this time, no need to wait for the photo finish to celebrate, as the Canadian and his team played the slightly uphill finish to perfection. Seppe Van Den Boer (Tudor Pro Cycling) made it to the podium again, with the 20 year old taking third place on the 121.3km stage that offered the third sprint opportunity of the race.
"The last two sprints it was pretty clear that Malucelli and me are super close and the only reason I won today was that the boys put me in a better position than Malucelli's boys. But that's just the nature of bike racing and I can't thank my team enough," said Pickrell in a post race interview by organisers.
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"We knew we had to be in a really good position and we were hoping my teammate Scott [McGill] could drop me off just before the corner but he had really good legs so he was able to take me through the corner and he gave me a really good run to the finish and I'm really happy."
Race leader Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) maintained his top spot overall.
Still, even though the race ended in a sprint and with the GC gap holding firm, it certainly wasn't a relaxed day of defending the jersey for Jasch, with plenty of moves early which meant the first year pro had to stay on his toes.
How it Unfolded
There was no easing into this early starting stage, which launched at 9am local time, as it was possibly the best opportunity for the riders trying to capitalise on a break and thwart the teams of the sprinters, who had been in energy conservation mode through the mountain stages. It also provided a potential chance for others to try and make some ground on the overall.
This was because, even though the big summit finishes were in the past, the climbs were not completely in the rear-view mirror. The first category 3 climb at Ampang came at just 5km in to the day of racing and then another at Bukit Hantu at 18km.
Over the first climb at the front it was Petr Rikunov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu), who was looking to build points in hopes of a return to the top of the KOM classification where he started the day second to Jasch. The race leader was next, clearly wary of the threat to the leader's orange jersey the hectic opening run on this stage could pose.
There were in fact early splits in the peloton, with the winner of two stages so far, Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana), among those off the back, while Stefan De Bod (Modern Adventure) was off the front between the two early climbs and then it bunched up in the lead group through the second. Then Mathias Bregnhøj (Terengganu), sitting eighth overall, and Josh Burnett (Burgos-Burpellet BH) who after his second place on stage 5 is seventh overall, made a move but Jasch wasn't letting a pair who posed such a GC threat get away, chasing dowb the move himself.
Bregnhøj had another go with Matthis Le Berre (TotalEnergies) but were also pulled back in. The group that finally established, included Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Julien Arriola (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Adne van Engelen (Terengganu) who were later also joined by Juan Martinez (Picnic PostNL), Mikel Retegi (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Rikunov, who took the top KOM points at 66km into the day of racing.
The peloton was back together behind, which meant with their in form sprinter in the fold XDS-Astana were now prepared to go the the front and try to reel in the group out front. With 40km to go the gap was at just 1:20. With the gap closing as the kilometres progressed Jousseaume attacked from the lead group and by 20km to go it was two riders at the front, with Retegi joining the TotalEnergies rider. Despite the attempt to avoid the catch, at 6.5km to go the pair were reeled in.
That however, opened up the opportunity for others to try and go, with the first wave of attacks nuetralised by Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana) and while that opened up the way for another, the team of Malucelli was prepared to burn through some riders to keep it under control and Riley Pickrell's Modern Adventure was also prepared to chip in. It turned out to be well worth their while.
More to come ....
*Cyclingnews attended Le Tour de Langkawi on an invitation/media package from the race that included travel and accommodation. In line with our editorial standards, our coverage is independent and was not subject to review, approval or influence by the organiser or any sponsor; no favourable coverage was promised or given in return.
