KUALA LUMPUR: XDS-Astana rider, Aaron Gate emerged as the winner of Stage 8 of the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi 2025 (PLTdL25) from Tangkak to PETRONAS Twin Towers (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur today.
Gate secured the fourth stage victory for Astana by being the first rider to cross the finish line on the 180.2km route, clocking a time of 3 hours 50 minutes 05 seconds.
He beat Tudor Cycling Team’s Alvaras Mikutis, followed by Nil Gimero Ferrer (Equipo Kern Pharma), who arrived 7 seconds later, before the peloton led by Erland Blikra (Uno-X Mobility), arrived with a large group of riders 8 seconds later.
“I was supposed to help Nico (Nicolya Vinokourov) steal bonus time for the General Classification (GC), but he had a mechanical issue. So I just took the opportunity and I’m happy to have won today. Maybe my experience as a track rider helped me in the last 4km. Today was very challenging. I knew it was a difficult stage, but I didn’t expect a small group of riders to dominate the front. Regardless, I’m happy,” said the 35-year-old New Zealand rider, who won 4 gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, Joris Delbove was truly surprised that he managed to hold on until the end of the race to win the Overall Individual Classification (GC) and the PETRONAS Green Jersey.
With only a 3-second advantage, the TotalEnergies rider, who had held the Green Jersey since Stage 5 in Fraser’s Hill, managed to hold off the relentless pressure from his closest challengers, Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Yannis Voisard (Tudor Cycling Team).
“The trophy is beautiful, and it symbolizes how competitive and big this race is. It might be difficult to take it back to France. I want to say that this race is a tough tour and is always keenly contested. At the start of the race, I didn’t have high ambitions, just aiming for a top-5 finish. But to win the title here is very gratifying. This is a great reward for me and the team. For now, I don’t know the program my team has planned for me next year, but if invited, I want to come back to defend this title,” said Delbove, 25.
FINAL JERSEY WINNERS
- PETRONAS Green Jersey (Overall GC): Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies)
Without Malucelli, Blikra, the 2023 Sprint King, wisely used the opportunity to defend the top position in the points classification, winning the jersey with 63 points, 12 points ahead of Tudor’s Arvid de Kleijn and Manuel Penalver (Team Polti VisitMalta).
- Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) Orange Jersey (Sprint King): Erland Blikra (Uno-X Mobility)
With the 15 points collected in Gerik on Stage 3, Patrick Eddy remained dominant with 15 points to be crowned the King of the Mountains in this PLTdL25.
- BubblesO2 Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Patrick Eddy (Team Picnic PostNL)
Nicolya Vinokourov (Astana) retained the white jersey, having to accept that he couldn’t chase the Green Jersey at the end of Stage 8.
- Rakan Muda White Jersey (Best Asian Rider): Nicolya Vinokourov (Astana)
Polti was crowned the Overall Team Champion, while the Indonesian Continental team, Nusantara-BYC, won the Best Asian Team category.
Race Summary:
The race started under scorching heat, where many breakaway attempts failed until four riders- Oliver Peace (Picnic), Marc Brustenga and Gimero (Kern Pharma) and Roberto Gonzalez (Solution Tech Vini Fantini) managed to escape after passing the first sprint zone in Alor Gajah. They gained a gap of up to 4 minutes, causing the peloton, which was split into two groups, to react slowly, especially on the two Category 2 climbs at Bukit Hantu and Ampang.
The 29th edition of the PLTdL25, which covered a total distance of 1,224.2km with a 2.ProSeries status on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, began in Langkawi last Sunday. It was organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) through the National Sports Council (MSN) in collaboration with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).
