Zeb Kyffin (Unibet Tietema Rockets) charged over the line in Medini on stage 7, capturing victory on the longest day of racing at the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi as the British rider and Aiman Rosli (Terengganu) defied the sprinters in a nail biting finish.
The pair were working together to hold off the sprinters in the 214.9 km coastal stage from Melaka, and for once, the break won the battle.
"I thought I was gonna get caught at 2k to go, because 30 seconds usually goes like that and then my DS said on the radio '1k to go, try and drop him'," Kyffin told media, including Cyclingnews, after taking to the podium.
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"And I saw I had 10 meters on him and then he came back, and then when I saw 300 meters to go, I was like, 'I've got nothing to lose' and I opened up, looked through my legs, and he'd gone. That euphoria feeling was just unbelievable. You never know how you're gonna react as you go across the line, but yeah, I was pretty emotional."
There was only third place left for the sprinters on the second last day of the eight-day 2.Pro race and Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) swept up the final podium spot.
Alexander Kristoff (UNO-X Mobility) was one sprinter missing from the charge as, sadly, he had his retirement tour cut short after crashing at around 110km to go and abandoning the race.
There was also some reshuffling of the overall places, as while Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies) remained safe in the top spot, Anders Halland Johannessen (UNO-X Mobility) and Adrien Maire (Unibet Tietema Rockets) were joined at six seconds back when Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) snared third and the one second bonus that came with it in the first intermediate sprint.
How it unfolded
There was no sign of the rain that had made it a tough day on stage 6, with one of the crashes taking out dominant sprinter Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana). A peloton of 109 setting off on the 214.9km stage from the historic location of Melaka, winding its way along the coast to the southernmost point of the race at Medini.
The three intermediate sprints for the day came at 26km, 74.3km and 166.8km, crucial points of the stage given just how close the GC battle is.
Once the race rolled out, the attacks flew, but none were given too much ground as the focus, it seemed, was to keep the race together till at least the first intermediate sprint. It was a charged battle with Tudor Pro Cycling, TotalEnergies and Uno-X Mobility all prominent at the front in numbers with Erlend Blikra soaking up the top points to try and protect his teammate Johannessen's position while second-placed Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies) did the same for Delbove. However, Voisard managed to sneak into third place with the one-second time bonus enough to put him on equal time with Johannessen and Maire.
The attacks rolled out once again, the one that stuck being a group of three, Rosli, Joseph Javiniar (7Eleven) and Yusri Shaari (Malaysia) and the group ultimately swelled to seven when it became clear that this would be the one that stayed away. Mow Ching Yin (HKSI), Yauheni Sobal (Chengdu) and Ade Meisa (Aisan) made the junction and then Matthew Dinham (Picnic PostNL), on his return race after nearly two years without pinning a number on, decided he would bridge across as well.
The gap stretched over two minutes and it was clear that the second intermediate sprint at 140.6km to go would be decided among the break. It was regular break rider, Malaysian champion Rosli, who seemed to be in just about every move, that took the top points. The third intermediate sprint points at 48km to go then went to Dinham, who promptly decided to sit up and go back to the peloton.
The riders continued to be shed from the front group as the peloton gathered momentum, then Rosli also deciding to go it alone. He didn't stay alone, though, as at 10km to go he still had kept the peloton at bay, 30 seconds behind, but he was also now joined by Kyffin who bridged across to Rosli, shooting out of the peloton as discreetly as possible in what proved to be a move that is bound to change the career trajectory of the out-of-contract rider.
The pair even managed to push the gap up to around a minute at 5km to go, according to the live-streamed coverage, making it a nail-biting finale as the crowds on the line were hoping that they would get a winner from their home state.
With fresher legs Kyffin had the edge on Rosli, who had no response to the British-born cyclist when he wound up to launch toward the victory. Nevertheless, the Malaysian champion was a picture of joy as he managed to ride to second place in front of an appreciative home-state crowd at Medini in Johor.
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