Tour de Langkawi: Stage 3 win for De Vos in Kuala Terengganu

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Adam de Vos ripped up the sprinters' script at the Tour de Langkawi, with the Rally rider taking stage 3 win victory via the day long breakaway. De Vos lead home Daeyeon Kim (KSPO) and Nik Zulkiflie (Forca-Amskins) by 13 seconds after attacking from the four-rider group two kilometres from the Kuala Terengganu finish.

Race leader Ricardo Minali (Astana) finished in the peloton 1:20 minutes behind the breakaway to concede the yellow jersey to De Vos. Malaysian Anuar Manan (Forca-Amskins) won the field sprint for fifth place to the cheer of the home fans.

In three days of racing, there have now been three different stage winners and race leaders at the 23rd edition of the Tour de Langkawi.

"The gentlemen to my right was really fast in the intermediate sprints so I knew I didn't want to arrive at the finish with him," De Vos said of Kim while seated next to him in the post-stage press conference.

"I thought I would take my chances solo and out of the last corner with two K to go, I attacked and had a gap quickly and was able to hold it and extend it all the way."

De Vos is now well placed in the battle for the GC, with pre-race favourite Mekseb Debesay (Dimension Data) 1:26 in arrears. Stage 5 to Cameron Highlands is where the race will be lost and won, but the race remains open with five days of racing to come. For now, De Vos was soaking in his first major victory and leader's jersey in an .HC race.

"I am going to ride as hard as I can up the climb and if I lose the jersey I will be disappointed, but I am still happy with a stage win," he said.

The stage win was the first in the race for a breakaway since 2015, when Joonyong Seo (KSPO) won on the day from Kuala Terengganu to Kuantan. For, Seo the day wasn't a success as the Korean crashed and lost his best Asian rider jersey. There was a consolation of sorts with teammate Kim moving into the green rider jersey and Seo holding his top-ten place on GC.

The stage win was also the third victory by a Canadian in Kuala Terengganu with De Vos joining Brian Walton and his Rally director Eric Wohlberg in doing so.

"Maybe it is good soil here for the Canadians," De Vos said of the city known as a hotbed of Malaysian cycling.

How it unfolded

A little under 24 hours after the stage 2 finish at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium in Khota Bahru, the peloton returned to start stage 3. Heading out from the Kelantan capital for the 166km stage, there was little struggle compared to previous days to arrange the breakaway.

A nine-man group was quick to form off the front of the bunch. The riders making the move were De Vos (Rally), Nik Zulkiflie (Forca-Amskins), Mahrus Ali (KFC), Thomas Lebas (Kinan), Daeyeon Kim (KSPO), Harry Sweeny (Mitchelton-BikeExchange), Peerapol Chawchiangkwang (Thailand), Muhammad Firdaus Awang and Muhammad Kamal (Malaysia National Team).

Of the nonet, Lebas was the most dangerous rider regarding the GC but the peloton was content to let him ride at the head of the race. His job for the day to pick up bonus seconds then drop back to the bunch. Kim won the first two sprints on offer and once the breakaway passed into Terengganu state, the home of the TSG team, the Astana led peloton had handed the now octet a seven-minute lead.

Following the third sprint point at Pantai Penarik, again won by Kim, the breakaway started to lose numbers. De Vos, Zulkiflie, Kim, Sweeny and Peerapol were the survivors and pushed hard to hold their lead.

With the coastal winds picking up in the finale, splits opened up in the peloton. The breakaway also started to splinter with De Vos in particular keen to ensure the stage would not be decided in a sprint. With two kilometres to race, he made the winning move and held off the chasers for his biggest win to date. Over a minute later, the beaten peloton crossed the line with Manan kicking fastest and holding off Eric Young for fifth.

Stage 4 of the Tour de Langkawi is on paper again expected to suit the sprinters and after the upset into Kuala Terengganu, they will be hungry for redemption after 177km of racing from Dungun to Pekan.

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