There have been plenty of tests for Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) this week at Le Tour de Langkawi; Thursday was perhaps the biggest. This was the queen stage, the day on the bike which will most likely have set him on the path towards riding all the way through to the end of the eighth stage with the orange leader's jersey on his back, in not just his first attempt at the race but also in his first season as a professional and his first time as a team leader.
Right from the beginning, as he fronted up to the pre-race media conference, he has looked anything but green, handling the responsibilities of being in the spotlight with a cheery but understated confidence and on the road, he has been measured, though anything but understated, as he has deftly tackled the task at hand.
Starting out, the hope from the team had been for a top-five finish, but on the opening summit finish to Gunung Jerai he laid down a charge on the climb that quickly put him in the lead of the race.
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Two more tough summit finishes remained, though, and challengers in the form of the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA duo of Abel Balderstone and Jan Castellon lay just 26 and 42 seconds behind. The big question was whether the 25-year-old former speed skater who only stepped up from the Tudor development squad in the middle of this season had not just the legs but the level-headedness which is often aided by experience to keep it.
The path of the next climbing test, stage 4, was a promising sign given the restraint shown to play the longer game as his Tudor team let a break who did not threaten his overall position run away with the win
"You also need to manage the power you have over the whole time, I mean doesn't help when we maybe take a third place or something today, but then we don't have anyone the last three stages? So yeah, you have to choose the battles you want to win. I would say," said Jasch after Wednesday's stage 4 in the Cameron Highlands.
And he already had his third stage win for the season after the performance on Gunung Jerai, so now the battle he wanted to chase was clearly his first overall victory.
Even though the two wins he had already swept up before starting the Tour de Langkawi left him feeling that there was no pressure, given what he had already achieved, it was hard not to feel at least some nerves heading into Thursday's all-important day of racing, the Genting Highlands queen stage.
Though once again Jasch delivered despite the chaos and challengers coming from every direction. A break of two were well up the road – the gap at five minutes at the start of the climb – and one of those was Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH), who was only 3:20 behind overall at the start of the day. Plus, of course, the riders in the group with Jasch were also going to try and test him every step of the way to see if they could find some weakness in his armour.
Right from the start there were waves of attempts to get into the break, a split in the peloton, a crash in front of Lennart and also the lengthy gap to the leading two, including the well-positioned Burnett.
"There are a lot of points where you can be nervous, but yeah, in the end, you always should be as calm as possible. And now I'm really, really happy that I'm sitting here still in the orange jersey, and I survived all of this," Jasch told the assembled media in the Genting Highlands after taking third on the stage and comfortably holding his GC lead.
In fact, he even extended his lead to 26 seconds on second-placed Balderstone, a commanding position to be in given that the remaining stages are largely flat.
"I think I can be quite confident, but yeah, in the end, it's still three more stages to come, and you never know what happens, so let's keep fighting," said Jasch.
And no matter what now happens in Malaysia, his performance so far in his first role as a leader chasing overall victory is bound to mean we will see him continuing the GC fight in future, because there can now be little doubt about his ability to deliver in that role.
*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.
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