Matteo Malucelli thwarts Alexander Kristoff in Le Tour de Langkawi stage 3 after tightest of sprint battles plays out despite early climbs through the jungle

Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) sprinted to victory on stage 3 of the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, capturing his second win of this year's race ahead of Alexander Kristoff (UNO-X Mobility), thwarting the retiring rider from capturing his 99th career win.

Kristoff missed out on making it one step closer to his target of 100 career wins by just centimetres, with it hard to determine who had actually triumphed until the photo finish came through.

"A win is always good, it's always a good sensation. The team today did a super job from the start and okay, I am little disappointed, because when you take off one victory to one big rider like Kristoff as I know that he has a big goal to win 100 UCI races, and he is so close," Malucelli said, adding that he would have preferred it was another rider in second place.

"But this is cycling, this is the game."

Kristoff''s UNO-X Mobility teammate Eriend Blikra claimed the final spot on the podium in Pasir Puteh after a day that tested the legs of key sprinters in the early stages by throwing in an early cluster of categorised climbs as the race moved through jungle territory in Malaysia.

It may have been a sprint finish, but it played out without all the key sprinters. Notably absent was stage 2 winner Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling), who was dropped and gapped, seemed resigned to go into conservation mode and refocus on the stages ahead. He finished in 15:50 down in 95th place.

How it unfolded

The 198.2km stage from Gerik, on the fringes of the Royal Belum State Park, taking the race inland through the rainforest where elephants and tigers roam, finishing on the east coast in Pasir Puteh.

It was always going to be a stage that was crucial for many, as while it doesn't have the summit finish of stage 5, the tough challenge of the early climbs was a factor that prompted many questions. Could early splits come into play in the GC race? Would riders dropped early make it to the finish within the time cut? What would the Mountain classification look like after the end of the stage?

The opening category 3 climb concluded at just 18.1km into the stage, the category 2 at 26km and the category 1 Puncak Titiwangsa climb, which topped out at 65.9km, leaving more than 130km of the race remaining once the climbs are done. As the ascents rolled through the rainforest, roadside signs warned of elephants, a maximum of 18 mountain competition points were up for grabs.

"That makes it pretty wild, to be honest," said Ben Carman (St George) the KOM jersey holder at the end of stage 2, having taken the lead of the competition by grabbing two early points on the Langkawi opening stage. "It's a long way to go still from the top climb so, I mean, it's quite likely that it can still come back to a decent sized sprint, but be honest, for me, it's not a long stage, it's going to be a short stage with a lot of suffering afterwards," he added given that his main aim, KOM points, would be complete on at Puncak Titiwangsa.

The reality turned out to be that he didn't even have a chance. That's because a break made up of his St George teammate Daniel Whitehouse, Patrick Eddy (Picnic Post NL), Cedrik Bakke Christophersen (Unibet Rockets) and Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Burgos BH) were on the move out front on the very first categorised climb and stayed that way right till the ascents were done.

After winning top points on the category 1 and 3 climb plus taking third on the category 2 ascent, Eddy was the new King of the Mountains, a surprising outcome given the Australian sprinter was at the race to win from the bunch, not in the mountains. Still, it is a tight competition with Eddy on 15 points along with Sainbayar, but claiming the jersey due to his top points on the highest category ascent.

The peloton then took advantage of the downhill to catch the break, but not all the sprinters were back in it with stage 2 winner Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) still unhitched, and XDS-Astana were quite happy to oblige with the pace on the front to make sure that it stayed that way.

The two intermediate sprints were the next target, the first taking place at Jeli, where the villages and towns started to break through on the edge of the jungle. XDS-Astana came to the fore once again, capitalising on the opportunity to sweep up the time bonuses that came along with the sprint points. Aaron Gate, the team's GC option – along with Nicolas Vinokurov as another card– swept up the top points at both the intermediate sprints at 80.9km and 64 km to go. By the third at 19.1km to go, there was little surprise when Gate made it a clean sweep, the rider from New Zealand now nine seconds better off for his three intermediate sprint wins, enough to move him up 11 spots overall.

For now, however, it is his teammate and stage 1 and 3 winner Malucelli who holds the leaders' jersey ahead of Blikra and Gate, who are both 16 seconds back.

The eight-stage race continues on Wednesday with a relatively flat 141.5km stage along the east coast, from Kuala Terengganu to Kemaman, though there is a category 4 climb at 15.3km to go, which – given how tight the mountains classification competition is – could prove a fiercely contested climb.

A number of riders, however, won't be at the starting line with five riders not finishing the stage with tough early climbs of stage 3, and three on the DNS list, leaving 118 riders in the race.