PASIR PUTEH: Matteo Malucelli clinched a bittersweet victory as his team XDS Astana Team showed just how strong they are in the third stage of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) today (Sept 30).
The third stage from Gerik to Pasir Puteh (198.2km) was expected to be challenging as it featured three categorised climbs and three intermediate sprints.
Uno-X Mobility’s Alexander Kristoff looked set to win it after a strong lead-out by his team but was pipped by a mere inch at the line by Malucelli, who won it in four hours, 28 minutes and four seconds.
Kristoff’s teammate Erlend Blikra was third while Manuel Penalver (Team Polti VisitMalta) and Enrico Zanoncello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) rounded out the top five on the day.
Fans were hoping to see Kristoff, 38, take the win as the four-time Tour de France stage and two-time Monument winner is retiring, LTdL is his last race.
Malucelli admitted it was not easy to take the win from Kristoff but nevertheless paid homage to his teammates.
“To win is always a good feeling and the team did a super good job from the start today,” said Malucelli.
“But I am a little disappointed to take the win off a big rider like Kristoff, who is seeking his 100th career win (currently 98). I would have preferred if it was another rider who was second.”
Astana’s strong pace from the start saw Malucelli’s main rival in the fight for the orange jersey (points classification) getting dropped in the hills of the Titiwangsa Range.
De Kleijn finished the stage in 95th position, more than 15 minutes off the pace.
“Our team lost a lot of energy during the stage, we wanted to control the climbs,” added Malucelli.
“When we saw Tudor Pro Cycling going easy on the climbs, we thought maybe it was because it was a little difficult for them so we pushed harder and he (Arvid de Kleijn) got dropped.”
Astana’s main hope for the general classification (GC), Aaron Gate, set himself up for a strong run at the overall title after winning all three intermediate sprints at Jeli, Bukit Bunga and Machang to claim nine bonus seconds and move up to third in the GC (+16s).
“We just have to hope we don’t lose five minutes when we get to Fraser’s Hill (stage five) and it was all for nothing,” said Gate in jest.
“It was a good team effort today, we had (prepared for) a few scenarios as we did not know how the race was going to unfold.
“But we had a lot of motivation on the climbs and Anton Kuzmin set a strong pace for us.”
Malucelli continues to lead the GC on 9:57:59s with Blikra in second (+16s). Malucelli also leads the points classification on 42 points while Patrick Eddy (Team Picnic PostNL) leads the mountains classification on 15 points.
The fourth stage tomorrow will start in Kuala Terengganu and end in Kemaman (141.5km) with intermediate sprints at Marang, Dungun and Paka followed by a category four climb in Kijal.
– Article source: www.nst.com.my
