Giger and Davison extend overall leads with stage wins in Langkawi

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Fabian Giger retained the yellow jersey as he stretched his domination in the men's category at the second stage of Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) 2012 on Wednesday.

The Rabobank-Giant rider triumphed after battling the challenging 42km course from east to west on Langkawi by finishing ahead of Karl Platt from Team Bulls and his teammate Emil Lindgren of Rabobank-Giant.

The World Cup fifth-ranked rider rode alone in the last 30km of the race to finish the race in 2:10:14 after battling the 5km steep terrain dubbed as "The Great Wall of Langkawi".

"It was a very tough course with the heat, rain and all. It is quite short but slippery and full of challenges. But I like it. I will continue to focus for stage 3 as I expect my rivals to go on the attacking mode tomorrow," said the jubilant Giger to the reporters after the prize giving ceremony.

However, defending champion Platt is still optimistic of his chances in the upcoming stages despite his best effort towards the end of the race. Platt was just 15 seconds behind the stage winner at the finishing line.

"It is still early days. I will keep fighting as long as I should. The race is far from over," said Platt.

Women

In the women's category, Lea Davison of Team Specialized continued her impressive run. She retained her pink jersey by emerging victorious at the end of this stage, ahead of Elisabeth Sveum of Norway and Janka Stevkova of Slovakia.

Davison was all smiles at the finishing line at the Langkawi’s Oriental Village. She clocked a 2:44:02 and described the day as one of her craziest days on a bicycle.

"This stage has it all - the big climb, jungle and gloomy weather. The track was just awesome and at one stage, I heard a loud thumping sound and I thought it was a bomb. It was thunder! I was all alone in the jungle but after the long hike, it was all downhill and I enjoyed it," said the 29-year-old American woman.

Malaysians

Malaysia’s best finisher today was Masziyaton Mohd Radzi in 10th in the women's category with a 3:29:25 while Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi finished in 15th in the men's race with the time of 2:39:47.

Stage 3

For tomorrow’s stage 3 Langkawi marathon, the race course is expected to test the mettle and endurance of the riders. Due to weather conditions, the marathon will be 63.9km for the men and 42.6km for women, masters and senior masters.

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