Langkawi: Andrea Guardini wins stage 9 to Kuala Terengganu

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Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) was once again the fastest on stage 9 of the Tour de Langkawi, with another sprint win Kuala Terengganu, and in doing so became the record holder for stage wins in the race. The Italian now has 10 stages to his name, while the previous record holder, Graeme Brown, has nine.

On stage 9 Guardini had more than enough speed to see off the challenges from Matteo Pelucchi (Team Europcar) and Raymond Kreder (Garmin-Barracuda).

However the Italian had to have his wits about him in the closing stages of the race after a mass pile up had seen a number of riders fall. Race leader Jose Serpa was held up by the crash but as it occurred inside the final 3 kilometers, lost none of his time and remains in the lead with one stage remaining.

“The Tour de Langkawi is very special to me as it was here where I took the first wins in my professional career,” Guardini said. “Because of that, it is great to get the record of ten stage wins. I thank my team for the perfect lead out for the stage today.”

The day’s action began when the fourth-placed rider on GC, Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana), moved clear in a break. The move was closed down by the bunch, but it was the biggest move by one of Serpa’s challengers since the Genting Highland stage.

The next move included Garmin Barracuda’s Nathan Haas, David McCann (RTS Racing Team), former race winner Anthony Charteau (Europcar) and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN Qhubeka). The quartet opened up a gap of over two minutes but were eventually reeled in with approximately four kilometres to go.

With one stage to go, and the profile ideally suited to the likes of Guardini, Serpa looks on course for his second overall win in Langkawi. Although after today’s crash he is not ready to declare that the race is totally over.

“We still have to wait until tomorrow to see whether we can win the yellow jersey,” he explained. “We don't know what will happen but we hope that we have a better opportunity.”