ISKANDAR PUTERI: Zeb Kyffin’s well-timed attack earned him his first professional win and also dragged Nur Aiman Rosli on the podium with him in the seventh stage of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) today.
Kyffin (Unibet Tietema Rockets) won the 214.9 kilometre stage – the longest in the tour this year – in four hours, 37 minutes and 39 minutes. The stage had started in Melaka and ended in Medini.
Aiman (Terengganu Cycling Team) finished second (+2s) while Tudor Pro Cycling’s Arvid de Kleijn (+10s) was third.
Aiman had spent the majority of the day in the breakaway and went on a solo effort in the final 20km.
He was almost caught by the peloton with 10km to go but suddenly found himself joined by Kyffin. A fatigued Aiman followed Kyffin’s wheel to the finish line. Hesitation from the chasing peloton played to the duo’s advantage.
Kyffin said it was a gamble he was willing to take.
“It (attack) was not really planned. I had been 15th for about four days in a row so I thought it was worth a shot,” said a beaming Kyffin.
“We (peloton) had not yet caught Aiman but there was a small ramp just before the highway where the pace was slowing and I could see the guy from Tudor, who was controlling the pace, was starting to get tired.
“I just went on a soft attack on the inside and then accelerated and committed as hard as I could.
“I just thought to myself, if Aiman rolls me, then so be it, I just wanted to get to the line.
“My sporting director told me on the radio to just keep going, ‘they don’t know how good you are’ he said.
“I really thought Aiman was going to beat me in the sprint but he had already done about 200km in the breakaway first so I had some fresher legs.”
The 27-year-old said it was a meaningful win for him and those who have supported him.
“To me it is more than just winning a stage of LTdL, it is also my first professional win, hopefully it will not be my last,” added Kyffin.
“I was not a childhood star and my journey to the pro ranks has been late. I just worked hard to get here, I am proud of myself and am glad to have the people I have around me.”
Erlend Blikra finished fourth after a tough day for Uno-X Mobility. Blikra and legendary teammate Alexander Kristoff suffered a crash which saw the latter being forced to abandon the tour due to injuries to his hand and arm.
Kristoff, a former Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo winner, had chosen LTdL as the final race of his career.
On a positive note for Uno-X, Blikra continues to lead the points classification (orange jersey) on 55 points, four more than second placed de Kleijn.
Team TotalEnergies had worked hard to keep the general classification (GC) contenders at bay today but were not able to stop Tudor’s Yannis Voisard from taking a bonus second after finishing third at the intermediate sprint at Sungai Rambai.
Joris Delbove (Team TotalEnergies) still leads the GC with a six second advantage over Voisard and Anders Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Adrien Mairea (Unibet Tietema Rockets).
Patrick Eddy (Team Picnic PostNL) continues to lead the mountains classification (polka dot jersey) on 15 points.
The eighth and final stage from Tangkak to Kuala Lumpur (180.2km) tomorrow will also feature three intermediate sprints at Alor Gajah, Seremban and Semenyih.
The stage will also feature three categorised climbs at Setul (category three), Bukit Hantu (category two) and Ampang Look out Point (category two).
– NST
