Tour de Langkawi: Saleh strikes again

Malaysia’s Harrif Saleh (TSG Terengganu) became the first rider to win two stages at the 25th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi, again taking the high-speed sprint finish ahead of Matteo Pelucchi (Bardiani CSF) and Taj Jones (ARA Sunshine Coast) in Alor Setar. Italy's Danilo Celano (Sapura) retained the yellow jersey on the eve of the grand finale on the island of Langkawi.

"I expected to win again today because of the confidence I got from my first victory," Saleh said.

"It was a very fast sprint at the end of a very long straight road. But as I was following the green jersey [Max Walscheid] and Pelucchi, I saw the road was open for me to past them so I gave everything. I can say I was the fastest today."

After ten kilometres of racing, five riders managed to go clear, to try to break the control of the sprinters' teams. They were Masakazu Ito (Aisan), Ben Van Dam (Bridgelane), Kim Kookhyun (KSPO), Cormac McGeough (Wildlife Generation) and Danieal Haikkal (Malaysia national team).

Their advantage rose to 4:40 after 55km but there was no threat to Celano's yellow jersey, as the highest ranked rider was Ito with a deficit of 9:13 on GC. The break eventually split and 10km from the finish only McGeough and Haikkal were away, with the Irishman the last to be reeled in with four kilometres to go. Simone Bevilacqua (Zabu-KTM), the winner of the second last stage last year, tried his luck with a solo attack but was soon caught.

It was all together again two kilometres from the finish. Walscheid led the charge from far out but was passed by faster riders, including stage 2 winner Jones. Then Salah passed the 19-year-old Australian to win again.

Saleh is the only Asian to have won three stages at Le Tour de Langkawi, taking with one last year in Melaka and two this year. It is the fifteenth stage victory for Asian cyclists of the 239 stages contested in Le Tour de Langkawi during the 25 years of the race. The first Asian stage winner was Hong Kong’s Wang Kam Po in the Cameron Highlands in 2000.

"This is huge for me," Saleh said.

"As a teenager, I always went to see Le Tour de Langkawi in my hometown of Kuala Terengganu. I have a picture of myself getting autographs from Koji Fukushima [the second Asian stage winner, in 2005]. Being an Asian and winning in the ProSeries makes me very happy."

The Malaysian admitted that he considered retirement at the end of the 2018 season but found new motivation thanks to his young family.

"At that time, my condition and my motivation weren’t good," he revealed. "I managed to come back to a good level, especially thanks to my family. My five-year-old son is very supportive of my career. When I see him excited about my results, I only want to carry on winning for him."

Celano leads Yevgeniy Fedorov (Vino - Astana Motors) by 26 seconds, with Artem Ovechkin (Terengganu Inc. TSG Cycling Team) third at 35 seconds.  

The final 108km stage from Dataran Lang to Kuah is largely flat and so the Italian, who rode for Caja Rural in 2017 and 2018 and then Amore e Vita in 2019, seems set for overall victory.  

The green points jersey is a much closer affair. Walscheid has a two-point advantage over Jones and five over Saleh.

“It’ll be difficult because the final circuit isn’t flat at all but I’ll try to go for the intermediate sprints," Saleh said.

Only one Asian has won the points classification before, Anuar Manan in 2010, the year he became the first Malaysian to win a stage at Le Tour de Langkawi.