Ayabe strikes with Genting on the horizon

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Japanese cyclist Takeaki Ayabe drew first blood in the mountains at the Tour de Langkawi, taking stage four in the Cameron Highlands today. Colombian Libardo Nino Corredor (LeTua Cycling Team) and Iranian Amir Zargari (Azad University Cycling Team) finished second and third respectively.

Stage four was the first of two deciding stages for the overall title and Ayabe’s victory not only put him in the yellow jersey, but also the white jersey of the best Asian rider ahead of the queen stage to the Genting Highlands tomorrow.

“I’m really really happy to get a stage win today,” Ayabe said. “I prepared to get a good result in the mountain stages, I trusted myself for the finishing sprint and I didn’t think I would win so I’m happy.”

“I will try to do my best tomorrow,” he concluded.

How the race unfolded

The points jersey battle was the first intriguing part of the stage with the flat run into the mountains. In the first hour of racing the peloton averaged 50km/h and the joint leaders in the classification, Anuar Manan (Terengganu ProAsia Cycling Team) and Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini –NeriSotttoli) were amongst the riders trying to break away to get the points.

Similarly Skil-Shimano were active trying to defend Koen de Kort’s king of the mountain jersey sending riders up the road including De Kort himself.

Christoff Van Heerden (MTN Qhubeka) was part of every early move and halfway through the stage was joined by eight riders featuring some climbers such as Guillaume Le Floch and Damien Gaudin (Europcar), Floris Goesinnen (Drapac) and Takashi Miyazawa (Farnese Vini-NeriSotttoli).

That move only lasted thirty kilometres as Colnago-CSF Inox were keen to set the stage up for their leader Domenico Pozzovivo.

Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano) tried a solo break to try to get points in the king of the mountains classification to keep the red jersey within the team and managed to pick up maximum points at the first mountain climb in the stage.

Not long after, Korean Gu Jang (Korean National Team) tried a break with twenty kilometres to go and held a thirty second advantage over a reduced peloton. He was caught and in the final ten kilometres, Pierre Rolland (Europcar) tried his hand.

Despite riders best efforts to get away, the climb wasn’t steep enough and it was Ayabe outsprinting a small group of eight riders to take the stage victory.

Libardo Nino and Amir Zargari round out the podium

Nino was happy with second place despite wanting the stage win.

“In the last kilometre I was hoping for the win,” Nino stated. “I missed a good occasion for winning a stage, however I’m still happy because second place is a good result for the team and I will aim for the general classification tomorrow,” he added.

Amir Zargari was pleased with his third place, explaining how the team rode on the final climb.

“Today I tried to finish in the first bunch with my team-mate [Rahim Emami]. He was attacking before the Hors category king of the mountain and won that climb as well as the jersey. I’m happy with third place, but I hope we can get a better result tomorrow in the Genting Highlands.”

The only jersey that didn’t change hands today was the points classification with both Anuar Manan and Andrea Guardini failing to score points, ensuring Guardini kept the jersey for another stage.

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