Enrico Barbin breaks the ice for Bardiani CSF

Team's seem to like the rain as it's cooling

Enrico Barbin takes the stage in Muar

The team celebrates

Anthony Giacoppo in 2nd and Filippo Pozzato in 3rd place

The leaders after stage 6

MUAR, 27 Feb 2017 : Just like Mekseb Debesay and Ryan Gibbons in the two previous stages, Italy’s Enrico Barbin opened his professional account at the 2017 Le Tour de Langkawi as he claimed his first victory at the age of 26 in Muar. He outsprinted Australia’s Anthony Giacoppo of IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness and his compatriot Filippo Pozzato from Wilier Triestina to deliver Bardiani CSF’s first win of the year and their first stage victory at LTdL since Marco Canola won solo in Kuantan in 2012.

The Italian squad managed by the Reverberis, father and son, is the oldest participant to LTdL, having made their first appearance as Scrigno in 1998 with five stage wins that year including the first ever as a pro for Alessandro Petacchi. Their organization is also the most successful in terms of stage victories in the history of the Malaysian premier stage race as Barbin bagged their 35^th while Gianni Savio’s team now called Androni is second on the tally with 24, followed by the currently named Wilier Triestina outfit with 16.

“It’s an honour for me to become part of this history”, Barbin declared. “I was feeling well and my whole team too [his team-mate Lorenzo Rota was up the road for most of the stage along with Colombia’s Wilmar Paredes and Hong Kong’s Ronald Yeung who was awarded the daily prize of most combative rider]. I’m not fast enough to beat the fastest sprinters here but I took advantage of them. Through the radio, we had perfect explanation of the finale and where the wind was blowing from so it was a question of getting the best position over the bridge and anticipate the sprint with 300 metres to go.”

“We were working for [stage 3 winner Jakub] Mareczko”, Pozzato explained. “But Unitedhealthcare attacked in the wind after the bridge. Kuba followed them but it was a bit far away from the line. Barbin has been smart accelerating from behind. I went after him but I got blocked for a little while and when I resumed my sprint with no speed it was too difficult and too late.”

As much as Pozzato replaced Mareczko due to sprinting circumstances, Giacoppo found himself as a substitute for Scott Sunderland. “We were going for Scott”, the Western Australian said, “but he got caught out of position in the last corner so I went myself. When we caught Mareczko, I hesitated a bit. Maybe I should have kept going.”

“Safety first was at the back of my mind but I definitely wanted to be in the sprint”, commented Gibbons who retained the yellow jersey.

“Going over the bridge when we turned right, we were behind Unitedhealthcare but we lost the wheels and four of their riders and Mareczko got away. I spent all my energy trying to close the gap because I didn’t want to lose any time on the UHC rider who is high on GC [Daniel Jaramillo]. I brought the peloton with me but when the proper sprint started I already made my effort so I just focused on not crashing.”

“Today was the first day in the Tour that I wasn’t at 100%. Normally I feel good racing in the rain but I only found my legs in the third hour. Maybe the rain was a little factor. There was no real stress though. I see two more sprint opportunities. It would be really good to bring the yellow jersey home.” He concluded.

Stage 7 from the historical city of Melaka to Rembau will be 148km long with three climbs in the finale.

Travis McCabe ruins Gibbons and Pozzato’s dreams

Top 3 of Stage 2 in Gerik

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.

TOP RIDERS READY TO STRIKE

Filippo Pozzato of Wilier Triestina

Jakub Mareczko of Wilier Triestina

Jacques Janse Van Rensburg from Dimension Data

Egan Bernal from Androni

Anuar Manan TSG looking good for stage wins

KUALA TERENGGANU, Tuesday, 21 February 2017 : Cycling superstar Filippo Pozzato and up and coming sprinter Jakub Mareczko (Willier Triestina), GC contender Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Colombian prodigy Egan Bernal (Androni Giocattoli) and local hero Anuar Manan (Terengganu TSG) attended the top riders pre-race press conference in Kuala Terengganu ahead of the 22^nd edition of Le Tour de Langkawi due to start in Kuala Berang on Wednesday 22 February.

Anuar Manan: “We’ve been training and taking part in local criteriums for six weeks in Australia under our new coach Jeremy Hunt who’s been a Team Sky rider. The condition is good but other teams have also prepared LTdL very seriously. For the next LTdL, some young Malaysian riders have a good potential for performing but for now, it’s still up to me and my team-mates.”

Jakub Mareczko: “There are many good sprinters on the start line, mostly from Italy with Nicolas Marini from Nippo-Vini Fantini, Marco Benfatto and Andrea Palini of Androni Giocattoli. I also know Scott Sunderland from Australia for racing him in China before. I’ll try to repeat the stage victory I got here last year. We have a strong team for that with Rafael Andriato and Filippo Pozzato to lead me out in the finales.”

Filippo Pozzato: “I’ve wanted to do Le Tour de Langkawi many times but I was always doing Tirreno-Adriatico. Since our team hasn’t been invited to Tirreno-Adriatico, I took the opportunity to come here after the Tour of Oman to get a good condition for Milan-Sanremo. I’d like to go for a stage win myself but we also have a great team to lead Mareczko out in the bunch sprints.”

Jacques Janse van Rensburg: “This is my seventh time taking part in Le Tour de Langkawi. There’s always a nice atmosphere for racing here. We came with an all rounded team for sprinting and riding for GC, which seems to work for our team as we won this race in the past two years. We have an all African team, except from Ben O’Connor who is an Australian. I hope to be able to fight for GC. Cameron Highlands is always a tough climb at the end and that’s where the GC should be decided.”

Egan Bernal: “I’ve trained a lot ahead of this season and I started racing in Argentina with the Vuelta a San Juan. I felt good there, so I want to do well at Le Tour de Langkawi. It’s a good race for me and an important event in my career. Many Colombians have made their fame over here. I’m still very young. I don’t have enough experience yet to be able to tell where and when I’ll be a winner. I want to learn first. I’ve been told that Cameron Highlands isn’t a too hard climb. I hope it’ll be a good one for me.”

Organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and managed by Ciclista Sports Sdn Bhd, the 22nd edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from 22 February to 1 March, 2017 is set to cover more than 1,200km over 8 stages, the UCI 2.HC (hors category) race featuring again as one of the biggest events on the UCI Asia Tour calendar.