Tour de Langkawi: Saleh wins stage 5 sprint

Already the second Malaysian stage winner in the 25 years of history of Le Tour de Langkawi last year, Harrif Saleh of TSG Terengganu doubled up as he outsprinted Max Walscheid (NTT Pro Cycling) and Matteo Pelucchi (Bardiani-CSF) in a bunch gallop in Ipoh. Danilo Celano (Sapura) retained the overall lead.

“I wasn’t scared of sprinting against a rider of the calibre of Walscheid”, Saleh said. “I know when I’m on a good day, I’m a good sprinter. I took the last bend in first position and that was the key for winning today. It makes me very happy and I’m grateful to my team for having put me in the situation to repeat my victory from last year.”

This time out, the 31-year-old from Terengganu, the hotbed of Malaysian cycling on the East Coast of the Peninsula, faced fierce competition but he handled the pressure of having to deliver after his climbing specialists teammates lost their battle for the yellow jersey against arch-rivals Sapura atop Genting Highlands. Saleh suffered an eye stroke in October last year and almost became half blind, but he recovered on time to become the first Malaysian to win two stages in the country’s favourite bike race.

His former team-mate Anuar Manan, now riding his 13th Le Tour de Langkawi and thus equalling the participation record of Iran’s Ghader Mizbani, also made the top 10 (9th) in Ipoh despite recently coming out of retirement and carrying some extra kilogrammes. Manan was the first Malaysian to win a stage in Le Tour de Langkawi in Port Dickson in 2010, beating Michael Matthews, among others, in a bunch finish.

It was always going to be a sprint finish in Ipoh but it took fifty kilometres for the breakaway of the day to be formed. 49km were covered in the first hour with constant skirmishes taking place. Mattia Bevilacqua (Vini Zabù-KTM), Johan Le Bon (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Amirul Mazuki (TSG Terengganu), Kent Ross (Wildlife Generation), Yuzuru Suzuki (Utsunomiya Blitzen) and Nik Zulkiflie (Malaysia national team) got a maximum advantage of 3:10 after 75km of racing. Sapura and NTT Pro Cycling, later helped by Bardiani-CSF, brought them with the regrouping occurring 7km before the end.

“We did a pretty good performance as a team once again”, Walscheid said. “I’m also quite happy with my sprint. One rider was just faster. Hats off to him because he sprinted really well. He was on our list of potential contenders this morning.”

Celano enjoyed his first day in the yellow jersey on a flat stage, being aware that stage 6 to the island of Penang will be a more complicated one in the defence of his leadership.

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