KEMAMAN: Matteo Malucelli continued his fine run in this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) after powering to victory in Stage Four from Terengganu to Kemaman, his third win of the race so far.
As the peloton charged into the final kilometres, Malucelli of XDS Astana positioned himself perfectly at the front before unleashing a powerful sprint to take the win in a bunch finish.
He edged out Team Polti VisitMalta’s Manuel Penalver, who finished second, while Erlend Blikra of Uno-X Mobility took third. The main peloton completed the stage in the same time of 3'17:56s.
“It’s amazing. A lot has changed since last year, including my mindset. When you’re part of a big team, no one really puts pressure on you, but you feel that winning is something normal for a strong outfit like Astana.
"So yes, I feel good. My legs are strong, the team did a great job for me and believed in me, and I think winning a stage in a tour like this means a lot," said Malucelli on Wednesday (Oct 1).
The victory also allowed Malucelli to retain two leader’s jerseys — the green jersey as the overall leader with a cumulative time of 13'15:45s, and the orange jersey as the points classification leader with 57 points.
Patrick Eddy of Team Picnic PostNL kept the polka dot jersey as the king of the mountains with 15 points, while Vadim Pronsky of Terengganu Cycling Malaysia (TSG) retained the white jersey as the best Asian rider with an overall time of 13'16:18s, much to the delight of the home supporters.
TSG were also named the Best Asian Team of the stage, while national rider Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil took the Best Asian Rider honour.
Wednesday’s stage saw 118 riders covering a distance of 141.5km, featuring three intermediate sprints at km12.3 in Marang, km66.7 in Marang, and km87.4 in Paka, as well as one categorised climb at km126.2 in Kijal.
Several crashes occurred during the stage, but the race went on despite a few riders from Aisan Racing and KSPO Professional sustaining injuries.
