Le Tour de Langkawi: De Kleijn storms to stage two victory in Kepala Batas

De Kleijn gesturing in victory after conquering the second stage of the LTdL from Padang Besar to Kepala Batas on Sept 29. – MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star

KEPALA BATAS: Tudor Pro Cycling rider Arvid De Kleijn claimed victory in the second stage of the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from Padang Besar to Kepala Batas on Monday (Sept 29).

The 166.1km route was shortened by about three kilometres after organisers decided to move the official start point further down the road for safety reasons because of heavy rain.

A total of 128 riders continued the race, with three intermediate sprints contested at Jitra (KM54), Pendang (KM90) and Sungai Petani (KM142.9).

Equipo Kern Pharma’s Ivan Cobo took the honours in the first sprint, before Thanakan Chaiyasombat of Thailand Pro Cycling topped the second in Pendang.

Unibet Tietema Rockets’ Chedrik Christophersen then dominated the final sprint in Sungai Petani.

As the stage was a flat race favouring the sprinters, several riders attempted early breakaways, but the competition intensified over the final 12km heading here.

Similar to the opening stage in Kuah, Langkawi, the race once again came down to a bunch sprint finish.

This time, however, De Kleijn proved the strongest, crossing the line first after 3 hours, 29 minutes and 59 seconds, ahead of stage one winner Matteo Malucelli.

Enrico Zanoncello of VF Group Bardiani CSF-Faizane settled for third place.

The victory also saw De Kleijn narrow the gap from overall leader and green jersey holder Matteo Malucelli to just 0.02 seconds, with a total time of 5:30:05.

The battle for the orange jersey in the best sprinter classification is also heating up between De Kleijn and current holder Malucelli, with only three points separating them.

Malucelli continues to lead the standings with 27 points, followed closely by De Kleijn on 24.

There was no change in the battle for the polka dot jersey as St George Continental Cycling Team’s Ben Carman remained comfortably in control, with no climbs featured in this stage.

Terengganu Cycling Team’s Nur Aiman Rosli also retained the white jersey as the best Asian rider.

The third stage on Tuesday (Sept 30) will cover 198.2km from Gerik to Pasir Puteh and is expected to be one of the most demanding routes in this year’s LTdL.