Bos stamps sprint authority into Kuala Kangsar

Theo Bos (Blanco) took his second stage win in as many days at Le Tour de Langkawi with another crushing display of form across the finish line of Stage 2 into Kuala Kangsar. Bos was piloted to the win by his veteran teammate Graeme Brown with a turn of speed that proved too much for second and third-place Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Aidis Kruopis (Orica GreenEdge) to match.

The shortest stage of the race at just 117.8km provided just one major obstacle for the peloton to overcome, but the Cat2 climb after just 50km was no match for the Blanco team or the main field as they were happy to ride tempo, allowing the breakaway a little bit of breathing space before hunting them down.

"The plan was not to let them go too far because it's a short stage. Also the tactic was to go a bit slow uphill and so we lose a few minutes and then we close it. But we didn't lose minutes on the climb," Bos said.

"If there was attacking [on the climb], it would have been really difficult to win here today."

Today was not a dominant repeat of yesterday's stage finish, with Bos admitting that he misjudged the finish line slightly and had to really dig to hold off the charge of second-place Guardini. Bos thought the finish line was closer than it really was and opened his sprint with approximately 250m to go.

The high-speed run to the line was favourable to the former track star but he received stiff competition from Guardini who made a late charge to the line. The line came too soon for the Astana sprinter with Bos able to relegate him to the minor placings for the second consecutive day.

"It was just lucky no one could catch me," said Bos as he caught his breath moments after the finish.

"Today was already harder than the day before. I expected the finish line was closer so I was a bit lucky.

"I saw his [Guardini's] shoes so I thought 'ok, now I have to go' and I was just lucky I could hold it."

Finishing in second place is not a familiar experience for Guardini who was unable to match the top-end speed of the Blanco sprinter. Guardini made the mistake of coming from too far back in yesterday's stage and made a similar error today, leaving him with little time to catch Bos. Guardini was disappointed with his second podium finish but added the condition of Bos and his Blanco team meant he would have to put it all together perfectly in order to get onto the top step.

"The climb we took regular, it was no problem and then we had some great work from the team," explained Guardini to Cyclingnews.

"[Assan] Bazayev and [Ruslan] Tieubayev took me to one kilometre to where I needed to be - on the wheels of the Orica GreenEdge guys but after that I made a mistake at 500m when Brown did the lead-out with Theo Bos. They did the lead-out so fast and then I had to stay in the wheels. I was just a bit too far behind for the sprint.

"I think I can beat him but to do that I will have to make a perfect sprint. He is in very good condition and is so, so strong," he added.

The second stage victory extended Bos' lead in the general classification while also adding to his tally in the points competition. However, his time in yellow will almost certainly end tomorrow as the peloton tackle the first real mountains of the race in the Cameron Highlands region.

"Tomorrow I think I will definitely lose the jersey but I'm proud and happy I can wear it for two days," said Bos.

How it unfolded

It was a later than usual start for Stage 2 at Le Tour de Langkawi but thankfully the weather was overcast, reducing the temperature from the tough conditions yesterday.

Another 'sprinter' stage was to be served up to the 132-rider peloton with no abandonments entering the second day. The stage was set for the fast men but they would first have to climb the Cat2 Bukit Sumpitan which topped out at 560m at the 49.7km mark.

Shortly after the start a group of five riders broke clear of the peloton. Anuar Manan (Synergy - Baku Cycling Project), Shahrul Mat Amin (Terengganu Cycling Team), Choon Huat Goh (OCBC Singapore), Yong Seo Joon (KSPO) and Fuyu Li (Henxiang Cycling Team) were allowed to go clear within the opening five kilometres, with a couple of interesting men in the attacking group.

Manan is one of Asia's quickest sprinters and the only Malaysian to have won a stage at Langkawi. In 2010, he won the points classification and was clearly looking to make a repeat of his past feat by collecting maximum points at first intermediate sprint. There were another two intermediate sprints on offer on the stage with five points for first across the line - where Manan would look to score points again.

The other rider of note in the break, Li from the Chinese Hengxiang squad, is a former WorldTour rider who spent the 2010 season at Team RadioShack before returning a positive test for clenbuterol in April of the year. He was suspended by the team and handed a two-year suspension despite stating he unknowingly ingested the substance. He was 31 years old at the time and with such a high profile in his homeland, insisted he would have nothing more to prove by knowingly taking a banned substance.

Unlike the attacking trio of Stage 1, this group were not going to be given the same freedom. The Blanco-led peloton kept a steady eye on the breakaway group and kept the gap at a manageable 2:30 for most of the stage.

Seo Joon took the points at the top of the only categorised climb of the day and would later be pulling on the KOM jersey for his efforts on the climb. Mat Amin (TSG) came down on the fast descent off the climb but was relatively unscathed and quickly rejoined his breakaway companions.

Shortly after the climb the advantage to the break had been reduced to 1:25 and with a fast run to the line in Kuala Kangsar, there time would surely be up well before the finish.

The second sprint at 70.1km was again cleaned up by Manan (Synergy - Baku) with Li (Hengxiang), Mat Amin (Terrengganu) and Seo Joon (KSPS) taking the remaining points on offer.

The gap began to rapidly drop with two of the original breakaway riders managing to hold on for the final intermediate at 100.4km. Mat Aminn got himself five points while Seo Joon took second across the line. An assertive move by Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Serge Pauwels saw him take a few points while Yasuharu Nakajima (Aisan Racing Team) got the last of what was on offer.

The chance of holding off the bunch was always going to be difficult and with more than 10km still to go, the sprinters were jostling for another showdown. The numerous turns inside the final kilometre served to string out the bunch but that didn't stop a huge group sprinting for not just the win but the minor placings too.

At the end it was Bos who proved too good for the high quality field but unlike yesterday, he didn't have time to savour this victory as he just managed to hold off Guardini and Kruopis for the win.