Colombian Miguel Lopez was always seen as the rider to beat in the Tour de Langkawi’s Queen stage on Saturday, and he showed why - despite the intent and attempt of his rivals to challenge him - by winning it and taking the overall lead.

Lopez (Astana), 22, won the 129.4km stage from Ipoh to Tana Rata in the Cameron Highlands off the back of a solo attack with five kilometres to go on the 35km climb to the finish.

He beat second placed and fellow Colombian Daniel Jaramillo (UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling) by 30 seconds, while in third came South African Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) at 35s, followed and at the same time by Spaniard Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling) in fourth, Australian Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) in fifth and 12 other riders, including Slovenian hope Janez Brajkovic (UnitedHealthcare pro Cycling) in 10th place.

“This was a very fast stage before the climb,” Lopez said.

“And then on the climb [to the finish] I wanted to be at the level of the performance [shown already by] my teammates. “And in the finale it was a question of having the best legs.”

The fall out of the stage raced in far cooler conditions and even under rain on the finishing climb was that it left Lopez with an overall lead of 29s on Janse van Rensburg and 34s on Jaramillo who are now second and third overall for Sunday’s 148.8 fifth stage from Tapah to Kuala Lumpur that will suit the sprinters once again.

One of those sprinters will be the rider who lost the yellow leader’s jersey on Saturday, Lopez’s Italian teammate Andrea Guardini who will now wear the teal points jersey on Sunday.

For Lopez, born in Pesca, a likely overall victory here will represent another significant step forward in the infancy of his professional career that began last year, his first racing for Astana after finishing his amateur career with the Colombian Loteria de Boyaca-Indeportes Boyaca team with whom he won the 2014 Tour de l’Avenir, among other races that year.

Lopez has his sights set on the Vuelta a Espana later this year, but on Saturday he said he is on track in a season that started at the Tour de San Luis, Argentina in January with fourth overall, a win in stage six and finishing as best young rider.

After Langkawi, Lopez will race the Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta al Pais Vasco before focusing on Vuelta preparation.

But on Saturday Lopez said that his stage win on Saturday in Malaysia was a significant development in his preparation.

“This is a very important victory for me,” Lopez said.

“It helps me start the year with a lot of confidence.”

While Lopez is in the box seat to win overall and the team has now enjoyed two stages wins (with Guardini’s stage one victory that put him in the yellow jersey up until Saturday), he – nor Astana – are taking their strong position lightly.

Controlling a race with a six rider team as is the limit at Langkawi is hard enough, let alone with five as Astana have had since losing their Kazak teammate Ruslan Tleubayev on stage one due to a broken collar bone sustained in a crash.

“We have a very strong team, but we are missing one rider and its difficult to work at the front all the time,” Lopez said.

“However, we will do it again tomorrow [in stage five on Monday] and we are hoping for a great finale with Andrea.”

How it happened

It took at least 25km and with the first of three intermediate sprints won by Guardini for the main breakaway to form – a trio made up of Switzerland’s Lukas Jaun (Team Roth), Japan’s Shiki Kuroeda (Asian Racing) and Hong Kong’s Burr Ho (HKSI Pro) who gained a maximum lead of 6 minutes 27 seconds at 45km when the UnitedHealth Care Pro Cycling led peloton began to reel them in as the main climb loomed.

The toll of their escapade began to show soon after they rode through the second and third intermediate sprints with 76.6km behind them and 52.8km to go – most of it uphill, and while at a gradual percentage first it was still taxing.

As the rode began to steepen, a three rider counter attack was launched by China’s Wang Meyin (Hengxiang), the last winner of the Cameron Highlands stage in 2013, Singapore’s Donaben Goh (Terengganu Cycling) and Malaysia’s Sea Loh (Malaysian National). They caught the leaders as the ascent began to steepen, and soon after they did to form a six strong group two of them lost contact – Jaun and Kuroeda.

The four leaders stayed away to the King of the Mountains mark with eight kilometres to go, led by Wang in the KOM jersey; but then soon after they were caught by the peloton.

Lopez made his move with five kilometres to go and after gaining distance found Clarke looming from behind in pursuit. But after catching Lopez, the Australian could not hold the pace and fell behind, which prompted Jaramillo to immediately chase Lopez – an effort that was in vain, but at least rewarded, with him still finishing second on the stage.

UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling sports directeur Hendrik Redant summed up the finish for which he had so much hope, saying: “We tried. Johnny was with him, then he let go.

“Then Jaramillo reacted because Johnny dropped back … but then he couldn’t get him. It was a great ride [by Lopez].”

That it was.

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