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| Andrea makes his 18th win at Kuala Lumpur |
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| Stage 8 winners, Andrea Guardini (1st), Caleb Ewan (2nd) and Micheal Kolar (3rd) |
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| Best Asian and Overall Team Classification goes to Pegasus Cycling Team from Indonesia |
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| The Jersey winners of LTdL 2015 (L-R) Caleb Ewan (OGE) in Blue 'Sprint' Jersey, Youcef Reguigui (MTN) in Yellow 'Overall Classification' Jersey, Kiel Reijnen (UHC) in Red 'KOM' Jersey, Tomihiro Hayakawa (AIS) in White 'Best Asian' Jersey. |
KUALA LUMPUR, Sunday 15th March 2015 - Astana's Andrea Guardini added another victory to his collection
after ending the 20th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) the same way he
started it, with a win in a bunch sprint ahead of Orica GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan
n the final stage from Kuala Kubu Bharu to Kuala Lumpur today.
It was Guardini's 18th ever LTdL stage win, coming on a day when
MTN-Qhubeka's Youcef Reguigui confirmed his first ever overal victory as a
professional as he emerged with the yellow jersey he won on the decisive Stage
7 yesterday.
When he tried hard to stop Ewan and third placed Michael Kolar of
Tinkoff-Saxo in the final sprint, Guardini, who lost three teammates to food
poisoning a day earlier had to sprint early with 200 metres to go and completed
the stage in a time of 2:00.27s.
The final stage saw Reguigui crowned as the overall winner of LTdL
2015 after the Algerian sprinter chose not to take too many risks in
challenging Guardini and Ewan as he did in the earlier stages and finish 10th
on the day.
Reguigui clocked a total time of 28 hours 12 minutes and 04 seconds to
emerge the overall winner over the eight stages contested this time around. He
finished 9 seconds ahead of Astana's Valerio Agnoli and 10 seconds ahead of
third placed Sebastian Henao.
The red jersey for the mountains classification remained in the hands
of United Healthcare's Kiel Reijnen, who took charge of the lead from the first
stage in Langkawi and brought it to the finish to be crowned the king of the
mountains of this edition.
Orica GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan, wins the blue jersey for the points
classification. Ewan and the team initially came to LTdL targeting only a stage
win but their performance exceeded their own expectations, bagging two stage
wins, a few days in the yellow jersey and also winning the overall points classification.
The Asian riders classification was won by Japan's Tomihiro
Hayakawa of Aisan Racing Team.
The surprise of this edition was the rise of Indonesia's Pegasus
Cycling Team, who bagged both the Asian and overall teams classification title.
Guardini thanked his two remaining teammates - Agnoli and Maxat
Ayazbayev - for the effort they put in for him to bag his fourth win of this
edition.
"It was tough by this was a race that I wanted to win and I also
wanted to help Agnoli get second place in the general classification and we
achieved both," said Guardini.
"I knew what to expect in this final stage. It is a win that is
special and I hope this will give a good year for my career." Guardini, as
he did in the opening stage in Langkawi, repeated his win in the final stage in
his debut year with Farnese-Vini in 2011.
Asked if he would return next year, Guardini who's contract with
Astana expires at the end of the year, hoped he could return to the race, but
wasn't sure of the team he would represent next.
Reguigui, for whom this is the biggest ever win in his professional
career, admitted he had just started his pre-season training before coming to
Malaysia and took a bit of time to acclimatise before showing his true colours
when he won Stage 7 from Shah Alam to Frasers Hill.
"I would like to congratulate all my teammates and I am happy
with this yellow jersey although it was supposed to be Natnael Berhane who took
it in Frasers Hill," said Reguigui, 25.
"In this final stage, my team controlled the pace from the
beginning until the final two laps of the circuit before leaving it to Astana
and Orica GreenEdge. I wanted to challenge in the sprint, but I didn't want to
take any risks."
