Lindgren and Morath sprint to stage 1 victories in Langkawi

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Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC Team) won the 65km round the island stage 1 of the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) at the Lagenda Park on Tuesday after a three-way sprint to the finish line. Adelheid Morath (Sabine Spitz Haibike) earned the stage victory in the women's category.

Men

The Swedish rider pipped the yellow jersey holder and Frenchman Maxime Marotte (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) and Japan's Kohei Yamamoto (Specialized Racing) to capture the first stage.

Less than a second separated the top three riders as Lindgren's winning time of 2:19:39 dashed Marrote's hopes of a second consecutive victory following his prologue win on Monday.

Marotte had to be satisfied with a second placing in a time of 2:19:40, while Yamamoto came in third and received the same finish time.

Lindgren admitted that he had not thought about winning after trailing the leading group of riders by more than 20 seconds 20 kilometres from the end.

"I was so far behind the leaders going into the final third of the race. But I managed to slash the time during the downhill part of the course and caught up with the leading group of seven with just 10km remaining," said Lindgren.

"I am happy to win the sprint to the finish line. I am satisfied of getting a stage win in such difficult race conditions," said Lindgren.

Yamamoto was also ecstatic about his first podium finish, which catapulted him to the top of the best Asian rider standings.

"It was a very hot and tough race, so I am happy that I managed a podium finish. I worked with Emil to catch up with the leading group, but ran out of steam in the final stretch and had to settle for third," said Yamamoto.

Lindgren's Giant Pro XC Team teammate and 2012 LIMBC overall champion Fabian Giger of Switzerland was in the leading group of riders until being slowed by a flat tyre 15km from the end.

Women

In the women's race, German Adelheid Morath added the stage 1 victory to her UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championship qualifier triumph on Saturday.

In a bunched sprint to the finish involving three riders, Morath crossed the finish line first in 2:47:04, ahead of Italy's Eva Lechner (Colnago Sudtirol) and Slovenia's Blaza Klemencic, defending champion.

American Lea Davison (Specialized) and Poland's Maja Wloszczowska were credited with the same finish time as the top three after they got lost on the course with 2km to go.  The pair had been leading the race and had more than seven minutes' advantage at the time they went off course.

"I am happy to win today because it was very tough and wet race. Today, I made the right tactical moves and it worked out well," said Morath after her victory.

Other categories

Italian Marzio Deho continued his perfect start in Langkawi in the men's masters category after adding the Stage 1 win to his prologue success on Monday.

The Cicli Olympia rider was accompanied on the podium by the second placed Nicholas Craig of Britain and Holland's Patrick Jansen in third.

It was also a second win in a row for Dane Mads Bodker, who captured the stage 1 senior men's masters win ahead of Derek David Milne of New Zealand and Australia's Craig Peacock.

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