Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana) claimed the final victory at the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, winning stage 8 with a dash to the line from a group of three after the field was shredded by the climb strewn lead into the line.
Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor Pro Cycling) was second on the finish line, which sat in front of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, while Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma) took third in the 180.2km stage.
Joris Delbove (Total Energies) secured the overall victory, holding on to the top spot which he claimed atop Fraser's Hill on stage 5 while seconds claimed in the intermediate sprint helped move Anders Halland Johannessen (UNO-X Mobility) up to second spot at three seconds down. That meant that Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) dropped to third overall, six seconds down. Gate's teammate Nicolas Vinokurov just missed the podium, taking fourth spot overall.
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"A wonderful way to finish the Tour de Langkawi for us. The main goal before the start of the stage was to try to get Nicolas onto the podium in the General Classification. We planned to attack together in the finale, but we had to spend a lot of energy earlier on the climbs, which turned out to be tougher than expected," Gate said after the stage.
"With 1km to the top, I attacked to create a small gap, but the pace was so high that it was difficult to make a difference. After the climb, it was hard to do anything in GC, so with 4 km to go, the situation developed where I could try for the stage win – the peloton was small, the pace dropped, and there was one rider left ahead from the early breakaway.
"I decided it was the perfect moment and went for it. A Tudor rider followed me, and when he counterattacked with one kilometer to go, I just gave 100% to close it and launch my sprint. Honestly, I really wanted to win here, so I'm happy I got the chance and made the most of it."
How it unfolded
The 180.2km stage from Tangkak to Kuala Lumpur started with a farewell to retiring rider Alexander Kristoff, who was meant to be on the start line for his last day of racing but ended up out of the race after crashing on stage 7. Still, while he may not have got the opportunity to chase one last win on Sunday, he still got his guard of honour, albeit he passed through it on a rickshaw rather than on a bike.
The 105 riders remaining to take on the final stage would face intermediate sprint points at 33.9km, 98.5km and 131.2km, which, as always, held considerable weight given the tight GC battle for the lower steps of the podium and the bonus time on offer – three seconds for first, two for second and one for third. There was also a series of categorised climbs in the latter part, the category 3 climb of Setul at 76.7km to go, the category 2 Bukit Hantu climb at 26.8km to go and Lookout Point with 14.3km remaining, also a category 2 climb.
There was no getting away before the first intermediate sprint, not with a podium reshuffle at stake and it was a charged run toward the line in Alor Gajah, with Uno-X Mobility's determined efforts paying off as Johannessen claimed the three bonus seconds that moved him back up from third to second place. News also came through that Adrien Maire (Unibet Tietema Rockets), who had been sitting in fourth spot at the end of stage 7, was out of the race, reshuffling all the positions behind him and sending Nicolas Vinokurov into fourth.
After the first intermediate sprint, the riders keen to establish the break were finally given some room to move, with Oliver Peace (Picnic-PostNL), Roberto Gonzalez (Solution Tech Vini Fantini,) plus Marc Brustenga and Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma) getting away. They established a solid gap, over four minutes at times, and went through the course, sweeping up the available bonuses between them. Gonzalez took top points in intermediate sprint 2, on the category 3 climb, it was Gimeno and it was Gonzalez who was again in the box seat in sprint 3.
The gap was narrowing considerably by the time the break reached the second KOM, the category 2 Bukit Hantu at 26.8km to go. Brustegna, who had been dropped, was swallowed by the peloton and Peace and Gimeno crested the climb together, 1:20 ahead of the bunch, with Gimeno taking the top points, and Gonzalez now also dropped, but was still holding out for third place at the KOM.
The final points in the mountains classification were now ahead, and the final chance to unseat Patrick Eddy (Picnic PostNL) from the top position in the category where he has been sitting on equal points, at 15, with Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Burgos Burpellet BH) since stage 3. As the climb got closer and the gap to the riders at the front narrowed to under a minute, Eddy went on the move, launching with about 20km to try and join his teammate up front. Peace slowed the pace to wait for Eddy, letting Gimeno go on alone.
Then, at about 17km to go, a spectator waved a flag on a pole right out in front of Eddy, and it got caught in his wheel. The Australian then had to watch his rivals ride on by as he waited for the team car. Nevertheless, his KOM jersey was safe with Gimeno, Peace and Johannessen sweeping up the points.
In the meantime, the peloton had been split apart, and Gimeno was forging on alone, hoping that the break could succeed for a second day running. He got to the final kilometres, but with Gates and Mikutus catching, he was up against it after having had so long up the front of the race. They ultimately left him behind, though he was still rewarded for his efforts with a place on the podium.
Erlend Blikra (Uno-X mobility) was fourth, winning the sprint from the group behin,d and he also retained the points jersey. Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana) claimed the jersey for the best Asian rider.
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