TWO IN A ROW FOR COQUARD

KUALA BERANG, Friday 1 March 2013 - Team Europcar's Bryan Coquard again proved too strong as he bagged his second consecutive victory in Stage 9 of Le Tour de Langkawi 2013 (LTdL) from Pasir Puteh to Kuala Berang today.

The 20-year old once again found space to launch an explosive sprint to beat Vini Fantini-Selle Italia's Francesco Chicchi and Orica-GreenEdge's veteran Australian sprinter Allan Davis to the finish line of the 123.4km stage in 2 hours 42 minutes 11 seconds.

"To achieve my first win in this race, especially with such a strong field was difficult. But when I found my rhythm, it became easier and today's win has made me very happy," said Coquard.

"My lead-out man Kevin Reza managed to put me on the wheel of Davis with 300m to go, when Greame Brown (Blanco) was in front. After that I found space and managed to sprint to overtake them and all the way to the finish,

"As you can see it is very competitive. Each day the top finishers are not the same ones, so the field has many strong sprinters. But today my team managed to do again what they did yesterday and we won again," added Coquard, winner of the silver medal in the Omnium at the Olympic Games in London last year.

Winner of Stage 4, Chicchi again failed to outdo the young Frenchman Coquard after he was beaten to the line at the final leap when the teams tactical plans went astray with his leadout man Michele Merlo involved in a crash in the final kilometre.

"Merlo had an accident and I had to sprint on my own and I started my sprint in around 25th position, but it was too late because at that point Coquard was too far ahead," said Chicchi, the 2002 under-23 world champion.

Today's stage began as usual with many attacks from the peloton which was then controlled by Vini Fantini, allowing Chicchi to win the first intermediate sprint to close the gap on the points classification leader Andrea Guardini of Astana.

The peloton increased its speed to catch the final breakaway pair of Liu Yilin of Hengxiang and Endra Wijaya of Indonesia, who made their escapoe 35km into the stage and opened up a gap of around 2 minutes before being caught with 20km to go.

Julian Arredondo of Team Nippo-De Rosa maintained his overall lead with a 1 minute and 15 seconds advantage over Orica-GreenEdge's Pieter Weening with the final stage tomorrow remaining.

The challenge for the blue jersey will continue in the final stage tomorrow with Chicchi closing the gap to Guardini to just five points. Guardini has 86 points and Chicchi 81.

Hengxiang's Wang Meiyin confirmed his red jersey victory after the end of the mounbtains competition yesterday.. He repeats his mountains classification victory in the Tour of Qinghai Lake last year.

Meiyin also remains the leader of the Asian riders' classification, which will be confirmed at the end of tomorrow's stage.

South Afirca's MTN-Qhubeka's lead in the teams classification looks unlikely to be threatened in the final stage tomorrow with a nine minutes advantage over second placed Tabriz Petrochemical of Iran.

Once again the locals bit the dust with Anuar Manan (Synergy-Baku Cycling Project) again falling short of his targeted podium spot when he finished 7th and again the best Malaysian finisher.

"I was targeting to win this stage and my teammates worked well for me. But unfortunately in the final kilometre there was a crash in front of me which I had to avoidm which disrupted my momentum. I will try again tomorrow," said Anuar, 26.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian national team's young LTdL debutante Mohd Zulhilmie Afif Ahmad Zamri managed 16th in the stage and admitted he had learned a lot from his first appearance in the race thus far.

"I am getting more used to this level of racing. I used the earlier stages to get myself accustomed to the speed and I watched the professionals closely. I also watched how Anuar Manan competed with them. Today I felt comfortable to bring myself to the front and try my luck in the bunch sprint," said Mohd Zulhilmie, 21.

Stage 10 of LTdL 2013 tomorrow involves a 114.8km route from Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terengganu with three intermediate sprints, one at Padang Air and two more across the finish line as the peloton does two loops around Kuala Terengganu before the finish.  

The LTdL 2013, which carries the slogan "The Heat is On", will officially begin in Kangar on February 21 and the race comprises 10 stages, covering 1469.7 kilometres.

The race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC (hors category) race on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, via the National Sports Council (NSC) in association with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).

YOUNG COQUARD STORMS TANAH MERAH

The tight finish

Brian shows his Olympic rings tattoo

On the podium in Tanah Merah, 1st Brian Coquard, 2nd Andrew Fenn, 3rd Francesco Chicchi

Pocket rocket Brian Coquard poses with his trophies

The leaders

TANAH MERAH, Thursday 28 February 2013 - Earlier failures despite coming close to winning a stage were put to rest by Team Europcar's Bryan Coquard won a bunch sprint to bag victory in Stage 8 of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from Kuala Terengganu to Tanah Merah today. 

Coquard, 20, beat Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Andrew Fenn and Stage 4 winner Francesco Chicchi to continue his hot streak with Team Europcar in his debut season as a professional after winning two stages in the Etoile de Besseges before coming to LTdL.

In the flat stage which was expected to finish in a bunch sprint, Coquard, who finished second in Stage 1 in Kulim and fourth in Kuala Kangsar (Stage 2), used the right strategy to sprint from the right and complete the stage in 3 hours 36 minutes and 47 seconds.

Born in Saint Nazaire, France, Coquard who won the silver medal in the omnium track event at the Olympic Games in London 2012, also overcame the disappointment of finishing eighth in Stage 7 in Dungun after a mistake saw him finish 8th.

"Yesterday I wasn't able to sprint well at the final moment but today I worked hard and was lucky to win this stage. My performance is at a good level and I was ready to take another chance today," said Coquard.

"In the final kilometre I was in a good position, in 10th or 11th and I took the chance in the final 200 metres to start my sprint from the right and overtake the riders at the front," saiod Coquard.

"I'm happy to win here because the field here is so strong. This victory is also important for the beginning of my career. I have achieved my target today and I can ride in the final two stages without the pressure of needing to register a victory."

Earlier, the peloton was driven at a very high pace before two riders - Low Ji Wen (OCBC Singapore) and Liu Jianpeng (Hengxiang) managed an escape after 25km and distanced themselves with a gap of almost 12 minutes before the peloton led by Astana, Vini Fantini and Team Nippo-De Rosa began to chase them down.

The yellow jersey holder Julian Arredondo of Team Nippo-De Rosa also retained his overall lead, along with Wang Meiyin of Hengxiang who leads the mountains classification and Asian riders' classification and Andrea Guardini of Astana, who leads the points classification.

South African team MTN Qhubeka also look set to hold on to their overall teams classification lead with two flat stages remaining.

The LTdL 2013, which carries the slogan "The Heat is On", will officially begin in Kangar on February 21 and the race comprises 10 stages, covering 1469.7 kilometres.

The race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC (hors category) race on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, via the National Sports Council (NSC) in association with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).

THEO SHOWS WHO'S BOS WITH EASY VICTORY

The break

Flag off by Raja Muda Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail

Theo takes the win!

KULIM, Thursday - Blanco Pro Cycling Team's Theo Bos swept the opening victory in the 18th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) today almost unchallenged in the bunch sprint finish.

That victory, 29-year old Bos' second in two weeks, gave him both the Visit Terengganu Year 2013 yellow jersey as the overall leader and the Proton blue jersey as the leader of the points classification.

Backed by a strong team that included the former LTdL record stage winner Greame Brown, Bos easily saw off the challenge of young French sprinter Bryan Coquard of Team Europcar and Italy's Andrea Guardini of the Astana Pro Team, the current LTdL stage win record holder at the end of the 162.7 kilometre stage that ended in 4 hours and 17 seconds.

China's Wang Meiyin of the Hengxiang Cycling Team also grabbed some atention when his early effort in a breakway from kilometre zero with Japan's Shinichi Fukushima of Team Nippo and Ho Junrong of OCBC Singapore saw him win all three intermediate sprints and the category 4 KOM at Bukit Selambau to take the Malaysia Airlines white Asian riders' jersey as well as the Genting red jersey as the mountains classification leader.     

The end result of the stage confirmed pre-race speculations as Bos, winner of Stage Two in the Tour of Algarve in Portugal last week, produced an explosive sprint to finish off the opposition after the peloton had caught up with the three breakway riders 20 kilometres from the finish.

"It was quite easy becausde my teammates controlled the tempo at the front which made it difficult for the other teams to find a good position. My teammate Brown has a lot of experience here, so that also helped me," said Bos.

"But I realise that the race after this will not always be easy. With our team in good condition, I hope to register more victories in the coming stages."

Meiyin, who saw his hopes of a surprise victory diminish when the peloton caught up after  they passed Kuala Ketil, ssaid he had entered the race hoping to make an impact.

"I wanted to show my ability in this race and try to win something," said Meiyin, who has raced in Malaysia with the Marco Polo team prior to this.

"I realised that this is a race with a very high level and it requires a lot more for me to win. But I am still eager to prove something and with the performance in the stage, I'm happy that I have come up with good form after the winter in China," said Meiyin.

Synergy-Baku Cycling Project's Anuar Manan emerged as the best Malaysian rider on the day by finishing seventh in the stage.

"When Blanco were at the front, there was a split in the front of the peloton and I was left behind, so my lead-out man Rico Rogers had to work extra hard to pull me back to the front. After that I tried to match the guys at the front, but they were just too fast," said Anuar.

The second stage of LTdL covers 117km from Serdang to Kuala Kangsar today, where the peloton has toalso negotiate a tough category 2 climb up Bukit Sumpitan.

The LTdL 2013, which carries the slogan "The Heat is On", will officially begin in Kangar on February 21 and the race comprises 10 stages, covering 1469.7 kilometres.

The race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC (hors category) race on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, via the National Sports Council (NSC) in association with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF).