Yamamoto delivers first Asian stage win at Langkawi

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Kohei Yamamoto (Specialized Racing) made history on Thursday by becoming the first Asian man to win a stage in the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC). His teammate Lea Davison won the women's stage.

Men

Five-time Asian mountain bike champion Yamamoto, from Japan, won the 81km stage 3 in a time of 3:29:56. He also became the first Asian rider to wear the yellow leader's jersey at LIMBC.

"My main target before coming to Langkawi was to win one of the stages here, and I am happy to accomplish the feat. There is no such thing as an easy race in the LIMBC, and I had to work hard for this win," said Yamamoto.

"I was feeling confident at the start line because I had a good feeling about my bike set-up during the warm-up. The good condition of my bike today was the main reason for my victory."

During the stage 3 marathon, dubbed the toughest among the five stages in this year's race, Yamamoto was in the leading group of five riders at the end of the first 27km loop.

He managed to break away with Team Goldwurst-power/Stockli rider Nicola Rohrbach during the second loop before taking sole leadership in the final third of the race.

Rohrbach settled for second position after clocking in at 3:31:25, with StephaneTempier (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) finishing third on 3:33:06.

Yamamoto took over the leader's yellow jersey from stage 1 winner Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC Team).

Datuk Malik Mydin, CEO of Human Voyage SdnBhd, the organisers of LIMBC, described Yamamoto's feat as historic. "Yamamoto is the first Asian rider to have won a stage since the LIMBC started in 2010. The fact that he overcame some of the top professional mountain bike riders in the world competing in this year's championship makes his achievement more memorable," said Datuk Malik.

Women

In the women's race, defending overall champion Davison continued her dominance with a second stage win in as many days.

The American rider won stage 3 in 2:37:59, leaving Eva Lechner (Colnago Sudtirol) at 2:42:10 and Maja Wloszczowska (Giant Pro XC Team) at 2:45:08 to settle for second and third positions respectively.

Thursday's victory allowed the pink leader's jersey holder Davison to stretch her lead at the top of the overall standings.

"This second straight stage victory allows me more breathing space in the quest to defend my overall title. However, I cannot afford to relax yet because some of the girls competing here are very strong and can punish me if I don't stay focused," said Davison.

Other categories

In the men's masters, Marzio Deho (Cicli Olympia) turned the tables on stage 2 winner Nicholas Craig (Team Scott) to bag the stage 3 victory.

The two riders have been swapping stage wins since stage 1 on Tuesday, with Italian Deho holding on to the overall leader's jersey.

In the men's senior masters, Derek David Milne (Nelson MTB Club) won stage 3 and replaced Mads Bodker (Team Davinci Specialized) as the overall leader.

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