Delbove makes history as second Frenchman in 18 years to win LTdL

KUALA LUMPUR: The battle for the green jersey, which decided the overall title at this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL), went right down to the wire, with TotalEnergies’ Joris Delbove emerging as the winner.

Delbove, who took over the jersey after Stage Five from Temerloh to Fraser’s Hill, never had it easy as the time gap between him and his rivals remained tight.

But the Frenchman held his nerve to keep the jersey through to the final Stage Eight on Sunday (Oct 5), which ended at the Petronas Twin Towers, finishing with a total time of 27'17:38s.

He edged out his closest rival, Anders Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility, by just three seconds, while XDS Astana’s Aaron Gate, who won the final stage, also fell short of overtaking him in the overall standings.

Gate crossed the finish line first to win Stage Eight from Tangkak over a distance of 180.2km in 3'50:05s, followed by Aivaras Mikutis of Tudor Pro Cycling in second place and Nil Gimeno Ferrer of Equipo Kern Pharma in third.

“I’ll take home beautiful memories of Malaysia and the Le Tour de Langkawi. It has been an amazing experience to witness the beauty of this country — the scenery is breathtaking, and the race itself was incredibly intense.

“This victory means a lot to me, and I’m truly happy,” said Delbove.

Delbove’s triumph also made him only the second French rider in the history of the Le Tour de Langkawi, since its inception in 1997, to win the overall title after Anthony Charteau achieved the feat in 2007.

Although XDS Astana missed out on the overall title, Nicolya Vinokourov ensured the Kazakhstan outfit did not leave empty-handed by claiming the white jersey as the Best Asian Rider.

Erlend Blikra of Uno-X Mobility won the orange jersey as the points classification leader with a total of 63 points, while Patrick Eddy of Team Picnic PostNL took home the polka dot jersey with 15 points.

Team Polti VisitMalta were crowned the best team in the general classification with a time of 81'53:24s, while Nusantara BYC were named the Best Asian Team with a total time of 82'29:24s.