Tour de Langkawi: Historic win for Saleh in Melaka

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The upsets continued on day two of the Tour de Langkawi with TSG's Harrif Saleh sprinting to a win over Andrea Guardini in Melaka. Race leader and stage 1 winner Marcus Culey (Sapura) finished in the main bunch to retain his yellow jersey after the longest stage of the race.

Saleh’s stage win is just the second for a Malaysian rider in 24 editions of the 2.HC race and the first since Anuar Manan in 2010. The win is also the second at the race for the Continental TSG squad from Terengganu who claimed the overall race title last year with Artem Ovechkin.

"Very emotional. Today I made history like Anuar before me. Now this time, here there are many strong sprinters and sprint teams. With the Pro-Continental teams here it is harder to win the sprints," said Hariff of the calibre of his win.

Lead out by 2015 Tour de Langkawi winner Youcef Reguigui, Harrif let Guardini open the sprint before launching. The delay in his sprint decisive as the 30-year-old passed a fading Guardini for a famous win. Guardini unable to add to his 2016 victory in Melaka and 24 career Tour de Langkawi stage wins.

Brendon Davids (Oliver’s) also finished safely in the bunch and retains his second place on GC behind Culey. The 192.6 km stage 3 from Muar to Putrajaya is again expected to suit the sprinters ahead of Tuesday's queen stage to Genting Highlands.

How it unfolded

The 124-rider strong peloton assembled in Senawang for stage 2 to Melaka. The first of the three categorised climbs coming quickly in the day after just 5.9 km ensured a frenetic start. Jesse Featonby (Oliver’s) secured the points at the KOM in the midst of the battle of the breakaway.

A group of 12 forcing the move after 20km with Australian national champion Michael Freiberg the best placed of the dozen. After the first hour of racing, the breakaway held a 3:50 minute advantage over the peloton. From the unsettled breakaway, a group of three riders rode away from their companions as the advantage dropped to three minutes.

A touch over the halfway point of the 200 km long stage, the lead to Ji-Hun Kim (KSPO), Nik Mohamad Azman Zulkifli (Malaysia) and Shotaro Iribe (Japan) improved to four minute. The three riders working together while behind the peloton remained alert to avoid a successive day of breakaway success. As the race settled into a groove, there was momentary relief from hot and humid conditions via an afternoon shower as the race approached the coast.

Post storm, Iribe decided to go solo with the lead down to a slender one minute margin. Iribe's doomed long effort ending inside 20 km to race, all but ensuring the bunch sprint finale. After the misstep of stage 1, the sprint teams were aligned to ensure the bunch gallop. In the run to the line, it was Bardiani and Guardini taking charge but Harrif emerged the victor, providing a historic win for the host nation.

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