Tour de Langkawi: Daniel Babor surprises field to win stage 4

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Czech rider outkicks George Jackson for victory, but Kiwi moves into race lead

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Daniel Babor wins stage 4 of the Tour de Langkawi
Daniel Babor wins stage 4 of the Tour de Langkawi(Image credit: Tour de Langkawi)

Daniel Babor (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) became the fourth different winner in as many days at the Tour de Langkawi as he outkicked everyone in the stage 4 bunch sprint into Meru Raya. 

Babor was positioned well by his fellow Czech teammate Tomáš Bárta going into the crucial final corner and once he launched his sprint, no one could get onto his wheel with George Jackson (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) taking second and Sasha Weemaes (Human Powered Health) third. 

“We had a good plan for this fourth stage and both I and the team gave 100% to carry it out,” said Babor. “If I'm honest, the victory was a bit unexpected, since there are very good riders here.”

Despite his strong sprint, Babor was quick to credit his teammates for executing the team’s plan in the finale.

“Also, although I'm not bad, the truth is that I'm not at 100%, but we did it very, very well,” said Babor. “Tomás Bárta and Gorka Sorarrain did great. The plan was to go full gas in the last kilometre and reach the last corner with the maximum possible advantage. 

“At the beginning of the year, I struggled in many races but in the second half, I found good legs to add wins. It means a lot to win here, for me and for the team."

The six bonus seconds gained on the line by Jackson were enough for him to move into the race lead ahead of Enrico Zanoncello (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizané) who finished ninth, in between the two sprinters who were favoured by the stage but hindered by poor positioning in the final kilometre, Arvid de Klein (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Gleb Syritsa (Astana Qazaqstan).

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James Moultrie
James Moultrie
News Writer

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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