ANUAR ROMPS TO THIRD STAGE WIN

Anuar celebrates his win on stage 4

Stage 4 winners

No changes to the leaders

PUTRAJAYA, Friday 11 December 2015 : Anuar Manan proved he is still a forced to be reckoned with after powering to victory in the third stage of Jelajah Malaysia today as Spaniard Francisco Mancebo remained the man to beat in the general classification.

The Terengganu Cycling Team rider crossed the finish line in a time of two hours, 14 minutes and 58 seconds while teammate Harrif Saleh came in third in the sprint finish. 

Korean Park Sung Baek of KSPO took second while Mancebo came in 27th in the same group. The third stage started in Bangi and passed through Nilai and Salak Tinggi before finishing in Putrajaya, covering a total distance of 103.3km.

Anuar was delighted with the result and is eyeing another stage win in the tour.

"Although the team had expected us (sprinters) to do well today I did not expect to win this stage as my focus was on helping my teammates do well in the king of mountains classification and the intermediate sprint," said the 29-year-old.

"This is my 11th stage win in Jelajah Malaysia since my first (Jelajah Malaysia) in 2007 so I am very happy, especially as I had been struggling with a back injury prior to this.

"The team did a great job as well and they deserve the credit too.

"We still have another two stages and hopefully we can win another stage, maybe on Sunday."

Mancebo, who leads the GC with a total time of 6:06:24s, said he is hoping to do well in the fourth stage tomorrow which will see riders covering 115.3KM. The race will start at Berjaya Times Square and pass through hill sections in Ampang, Hulu Langat and Semenyih before ending in Putrajaya.

"Our plan was to keep the yellow jersey today and I am happy that we managed to do as the pace was very fast from the start," said Skydive Dubai rider.

"The stage tomorrow will be slightly longer with some hill sections and I believe it will be good for me. My focus is on winning the GC but there are also other good riders I have to be careful of."

Skydive teammate Andrea Palini is currently third overall while Cheung King Lok of Team Hong Kong is second, 1:33s and 1:26s behind Mancebo. TSG's Nur Amirul Fakhruddin Mazuki continues to lead the mountains classification (red jersey) with eight points.

The Jelajah Malaysia 2015 is held from 9th to 13th December and is a UCI sanctioned 2.2 class race, organised by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation and managed by Peloton Resources.