CHICCHI GETS THE FINAL STAGE VICTORY, ARREDONDO WINS OVERALL

Chicchi takes the win in Dataran Shahbandar

TM Best Malaysian Riders Award - Best Climber Loh Sea Keong, Best Sprinter Anuar Manan, Best Overall Adiq Husainie

Winner of the 18th Edition of LTdL Julian Arredondo kisses the Champion's Trophy

The jersey winners - KOM Red jersey Wang Meiyin, Sprint Blue jersey Francesco Chicchi, Overall GC Yellow jersey Julian Arredondo

KUALA TERENGGANU, Saturday 2 March 2013 - The 10th and final stage victory of the 18th edition of LE Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2013 from Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terengganu saw a dramatic finale with Vini Fantini-Selle Italia's Francesco Chicchi taking his second stage win and stealing the blue jersey from previous holder Andrea Guardini.

Chicchi's victory denied Guardini, who fell sick yesterday and struggled to the finish of the stage, his chance of an historic hattrick of consecutive points classification victories in LTdL.

The biggest success, however, went to Team Nippo-De Rosa's Julian Arredondo who bagged the overall victory and the MTN-Qhubeka team who completed the overall teams victory at the end of the 10-stage 1,467 kilometre race.

Chicchi's tactical planning enabled him to bag the stage win by sprinting earlier ahead of the finish line to collect the 15 points that saw him overake Guardini in the points classification. Guardini failed to place among the top 10 finishers in the stage.

Chicchi, who won Stage 4 of the race from Tapah to Kapar, beat Synergy-Baku's Rico Rogers to the victory, as Blanco Pro Cycling's Greame Brown made it onto the podium with a third place finish.

"I like this race. There is no better start than to be with a new team which is fantastic and win two stages and the points classification," said 32-year old Chicchi who hails from Camiore, Italy.

Arredondo completed the stage in the safety of the peloton to keep his 1 minute and 15 seconds advantage over Orica-GreenEdge's Pieter Weening with a total time of 34 hiours 53 minutes and 07 seconds.

"I am super happy with this result. This is a sweet success for me after going through so many problems with my visa which limited my racing last year to just five or six races," said Arredondo.

"I am with a small team, but we are like family and my teammates stayed close to me especially in tough moments during the last five stages. It is not a matter of whether we are a Pro Tour team or continental. It was the mentality of winning that was important," said Arredondo.

South Africa's MTN-Qhubeka ensured their three top riders remained in the peloton in the final stage to complete the overall teams classification victory with an advantage of 9 minutes over second placed Tabriz Petrochemical of Iran.

Asia also stood tall with Hengxiang Cycling Team's Wang Meiyin from China winning the overall mountains classificatioin along with his white jersey as the best Asian rider, beating riders from Pro Team Astana Alexandr Dyachenko and Andrey Kashechkin, as well as top Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro of Team Europcar.

Malaysia's top finisher yesterday was again sprinter Anuar Manan of the Synergy-Baku Cycling Project who finished sixth, while compatriot Harrif Saleh of the Terengganu Cycling Team finished 10th, ending the race without a Malaysian podium finish.

Anuar however did step on the podium for his third place in the points classification behind Chicchi and Guardini.

"I had worked hard to ensure that I was in good form to produce my best results in this race. My preparation was better than last year but this time the level of competition was very high with so many top sprinters and UCI Pro Team riders," said Anuar.

"I challenged them every day and I believe my performance3s had made an impact on the top riders and they were aware of my capabilities."

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).

GUARDINI ENDS WAIT FOR VICTORY IN DUNGUN

The peloton entering the Dungun, district of Terengganu

Guardini finally gets his win in Dungun, ahead of Chicchi (Vini Fantini) and Kroupis (OGE)

Andrea hounded by the press

the stage winners

The jersey leaders

Astana Team Manager Jaan Kirsipuu celebrates with Andrea

DUNGUN, Wednesday 27 February 2013 - Star sprinter Andrea Guardini finally ended the wait for his first win for his new team Astana in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2013 when he won a bunch sprint to bag Stage 7 from Kuantan to Dungun today.

This win brought Guardini's record of wins in LTdL to 12 and was also Astana's first victory of the year. It came after the disappointment of losing out in the final sprint to Theo Bos (Blanco Pro Cycling) and Francesco Chicchi (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) in stages before this.

Wearing the sprints classification blue jersey which he took in Stage 4, the victory in Dungun is also the 22nd in 24-year old Guardini's career and also improved his chances of a repeat points classification victory.

Guardini beat Stage 4 winner Francesco Chicchi of his former team Vini Fantini-Selle Italia, which was known as Farnese Vini when he recorded his first 11 LTdL victories in 2011 and last year. Orica-GreenEdge's Aidis Kroupis finished third.  

"IT is difficult if I don't win something early in the season. But this year I had to familiarise myself with a new team and new teammates at Astana. I had entered the Tour Down Under and Tour of Qatar without the condition to challenge for wins, but here it was perfect," said Guardini.

"I'm relieved. The challenge is not that easy with so many strong sprinters here. But today, my teammates Assan Bazayev and Ruslan Tleubayev worked hard and rode very fast to find the space and position for me.

"In the final 500 metres, Tleubayev put me on the wheel of Aidis Kroupis and Allan Davis and I made a sprint from the left to overtake them.

"I also knew that Anuar Manan (Synergy-Baku Cycling Project) was getting closer to me in the points classification after he collected points at the intermediate sprints but I focused on the stage win only.

"I'm very happy with the victory and it goes well with the blue jersey," said Guardini, who captured the attention of the world when he won Stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia last year.

The yellow jersey remained with Team Nippo-De Rosa's Julian Arredondo (25 hours 55 minutes 05 seconds), who's team worked hard to prevent any major threat to his lead, particularly Orica-GreenEdge's Pieter Weening, who is one minute and 15 seconds adrift in the general classification.

Henxiang Cycling Team's Wang Meiyin remained the leader of the mountains classification wit 48 points, three more than Arredondo, who did not try to attack at the two king of the mountains hot spots at Kijal and Bukit Anak Dara today. Meiyin also remained the leader of the Asian riders' classification.

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).

CHICCHI CONQUERS BUNCH SPRINT IN KAPAR

The start at Tapah

Riders going for break

Andrea Guardini wears the Blue jersey

Wong Meiyin still in Yellow

Chicchi takes the stage!

KAPAR, Sunday 24 February 2013 - After settling for two eighth place finishes earlier Vini Fantini-Selle Italia's Francesco Chicchi showed what he was capable of when he surged ahead in a bunch sprint to win Stage 4 of Le Tour de Langkawi 2013 here today.

Camaiore, Italy-born Chicchi, 33, managed to pip Astana's Andrea Guardini and Orica-GreenEdge's Aidis Kroupis in the bunch sprint to cross the finish line in 3 hours 44 minutes and 22 seconds.

This was the first win for Chicchi with his new team Vini Fantini, after moving there from Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

However, Guardini, the LTdL record stage winner with 11 wins to date, gathered 14 points of the day to bring his points classification total to 41 and wrested the Proton blue jersey from Hengxiang's Wang Meiyin.

Meiyin, who created history on the Cameron Highlands stage on Day 3 by sweeping all four leaders' jerseys on offer, still remained as the leader of the overall general classification, the mountains and Asian riders' classification.

"After three hard days, including helping my team's climber Jonathan Monsalve in the Cameron Highlands stage, today I made a decision to try and win this stage," said Chicchi.

"I was behind Guardini when we entered the last 200 metres and managed to overtake him in the final stages. This is my first win in Le Tour de Langkawi and I'm very happy with it because this is a big race," added Chicchi.

"I was amazed to see so many people all along the route, supporting this cycling race and it gave me a lot of motivation to win." Chicchi was the under-23 world road champion in 2002. 

In the 168 kilometre stage that began in Tapah, Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Taiji Nishitani (Aisan) and Puchong Sai-udomsin (OCBC Singapore) made an early breakaway that saw them sweep the top three places in all three intermediate sprints at Teluk Intan, Sungai Besar and Kuala Selangor before being caught by the peloton with 3km to go.

Guardini admitted he was happy with gaining the blue jersey but will not be satisfied until he registers a victory in the race this time around with his new team Astana.

"My priority is still to wina stage but I realise the competition this time is very tough with so many good sprinters in the picture. But we still have some opportunities with many flat stages coming after Genting Highlands," said Guardini.

Stage 5 from Proton Shah Alam to Genting Highlands tomorrow will cover a 108km route that is the toughest stage in LTdL which will see the main contenders for the yellow jersey come forward.

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).