Guardini strikes again in Le Tour de Langkawi sprint

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Reinardt Janse van Rensburg now appreciates his overall lead in the Tour de Langkawi after he and his Dimension Data team worked hard to defend it on Tuesday’s seventh stage against a number of attempts to usurp him.

"Definitely," Janse van Rensburg replied when asked if he felt better about being in the yellow jersey. "I think the team showed today how strong they are. After defending it, I think it feels a little bit better to have it on my shoulders now."

When Janse van Rensburg took the overall leader's yellow jersey on Monday’s sixth stage, he expressed regret for the circumstances that led to him deposing the overnight leader, Columbian Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and moving up from second place overall at 23 seconds to the Astana rider into first place.

Lopez, who took the lead by winning stage four on Sunday into the Cameron Highlands, lost his lead on Sunday due to a broken wheel with six kilometres to go that led to him finishing 35 seconds behind Janse van Rensburg and the peloton.

Starting Tuesday's seventh stage, 202.3km from Seremban to Parit Sulong, Janse van Rensburg led the tour by 11 seconds over second placed Daniel Jaramillo (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) of Colombia and 12 seconds on third placed Lopez.

The overall podium standings remained the same after Andrea Guardini (Astana) won the stage – his third this year and 21st career victory in the tour - in a bunch sprint from fellow Italian Jakub Mareczko (Southeast-Venezuala) and Slovakian Juraj Sagan (Tinkoff). But Janse van Rensburg, fifth on the stage, was more buoyant after he and his team fought off the moves by his key rivals and their teams to pressure him with a number of attacks - moves also aimed at trying to reshuffle the overall classification below him (with only 59 seconds separating second to 25th position) and the various positions in the other categories still up for grabs.

Janse van Rensburg and Dimension Data marked several early moves, one of them by six riders including Pole Karel Domagalski (ONE Pro Cycling) and Belgian Laurens De Vreese (Astana) who were placed 19th overall at 55 seconds and 30th at 2 minutes 6 seconds respectively and got up to 1 minute 5 seconds before the King of the Mountains climb at 27km. Then, with the duo contained on the climb, Jaramillo and Lopez surged to awards the top to try to get a break on the South African and take vital seconds back on the first intermediate sprint after the descent at 46.6km.

Covering the move, Janse van Rensburg found himself in a 25 strong group with his rivals, but behind a new break of six, again including Domagalski and De Vreese.

Janse van Rensburg's team chased for the rest of the stage, accounting for every member of the break that changed in numbers and names and gained a maximum lead of 5 minutes 20 seconds with 50km to go until the last survivor, De Vreese, was caught with three kilometres to go and a bunch sprint was assured with the responsibility to ride at the front finally becoming that of the sprinters’ teams.

"The team was really strong," Janse van Rensburg said. "I was all the time saying to them, 'Slow down, slow down' so the sprinters' teams should come up and help us close the gap. There was not a lot of help but the team was really strong."

Asked if he is confident of winning the tour that ends on Wednesday with stage eight, 119km from Batu Pahat to Malaka, Janse van Rensburg said: "One more stage to go … but anything can happen.

"There are still a lot of guys trying to do something on the classification. [Wednesday] will have to have to be about concentration and teamwork again."

How it happened

The early six-strong break featuring Domagalski and De Vreese, also included Sagan, American Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), China's Ma Guangtong (Hengxiang Cycling), and Tunisian Meher Hasnaoul (Skydive Dubai).

They managed to get a lead of 50 seconds at 25km and then 1 minute 5 seconds by the start of the climb to the first KOM at 27km.

With peloton flying, the surge up the climb by Jaramillo and Lopez sounded the alarm bells for Janse van Rensburg. Lopez led the field over the summit of the climb with his teammate De Vreese in second place, followed by Domagalski in third and then Jaramillo in fourth place.

Another break went with De Vreese, Sagan, Putt and Domagalski who were soon joined by Korean Hyo Suk Gong (KSPO) and Indonesian Agung Sahbana (Pegasus). Meanwhile, the peloton split in two, with Janse van Rensburg making the front group of 25 riders that at one point had 1 minute 10 seconds on the main peloton before the two groups came back together after the first sprint at 46km.

The leading breakaway also splintered after Domagalski won the first sprint from Putt and Sagan following a series of attacks. The group first split in two, then reformed as six and split in two again with De Vreese, Putt and Gong in front.

The trio were then joined by Guangtong and Chinese teammate Zhang Zheng (Hengxiang Cycling). But De Vreese was still the main threat for Janse van Rensburg as leader on the road; that is, until Dimension Data began to reel in the break after its lead surpassed five minutes and it splintered through a lack of co-operation that prompted Putt to attack, then De Vreese and Guangtong to follow.

As has throughout this tour, the break was doomed after losing Guangtong. Its lead plummeted in the last 20km until Putt and then finally De Vreese were caught.  

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