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| Top 3 of Stage 2 in Gerik |
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| New Leaders after Stage 2 |
GERIK, Thursday, 23 February 2017 : American outfit Unitedhealthcare continued its winning streak
at Le Tour de Langkawi with Travis McCabe outsprinting Filippo Pozzato and Ryan
Gibbons who became the new race leader on the slightly downhill finish in Gerik
in the state of Perak in northern Malaysia. They previously won a stage in 2014
with Bradley White and in 2016 with John Murphy.
Exactly like Murphy one year ago, McCabe lined up at LTdL
fresh from a stage win at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia. “We came here with
the ambition to win”, the American sprinter said at the post-race press
conference. “We really wanted to work on the lead out train that we have. I wasn’t
trying to fill the shoes of Murphy but it’s great to do the same as him. For
me, today, it was all about patience. We showed yesterday that we had the lead
out train and the power to take me to the line but I made a mistake by going
way too early. Today I went into a small break before the category 1 climb to
make it easier when Manzana really hit it on the climb.”
It was a long but eventful day of racing from the East Coast
to the jungle via the Titiwangsa Range. It started with a crash involving Pozzato
and taking Terengganu’s sprinter Harrif Saleh out of the race as he hit a rock.
49 kilometres were covered in the first hour, making it impossible for anyone
to escape from the peloton but a group of 16 riders eventually rode away but
the presence of the likes of Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data),
Bernardo Suaza (Manzana-Postobon) and Robbie Hucker (IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness)
forced Androni Giocattoli to chase. Attracted by the King of the Mountains
competition after losing hopes of winning the overall classification after a
crash in stage 1, John Ebsen (Infinite AIS) went on his own 90km before the
finish in order to score important points atop Titiwangsa. The selective
terrain reduced the bunch to fifty riders only.
Italy’s Pozzato was close to add his name to the record of
stage winners at Gerik after his prestigious compatriots Gianni Bugno in 1997
and Rinaldo Nocentini in 1999 but McCabe outclassed him at the very end of a
tight finish. “My day started with a crash while I was in the middle of road at
the back of the peloton in order to not risk anything”, Pozzato explained.
“But someone bumped into me after losing control of his
handlebar and I fell on my face. My head was shocked by the crash but my legs
were going much better than yesterday after the traveling. In the finale I
wanted to anticipate the sprint because I’m not as fast as these guys.
But the Unitedhealthcare riders have done a great job as they
rode strongly from 1.2km to the end. There was no space for me to attack. When
they opened it for their sprinter, I exited on the right side of the road. I
hesitated a bit but at the end he was faster than me. It’s a pity because I
would have liked to break the ice and take a first victory this year,
especially for the team. They need some results after the good work done since
the beginning of the year. We’ll try again.”
Third on the line, Gibbons took over from Scott Sunderland in
the lead of the overall ranking. “I had a bike change due to a mechanical at
about 60km to go”, the South African revealed. “It had a 53 on and I couldn’t
get it down to the 11 [gear]. I had a perfect lead out. I thought it was no
problem to come round him but I had no speed. I’m disappointed not to win but
I’m happy to be in the yellow jersey. It sounds like an excuse but I think I’m
quicker than these guys and I want to prove it in the coming days.”
Stage 3 is expected to be a good one for the sprinters, being
relatively short (118km) from Serdang to Pantai Remis.
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