EWAN TAKES SECOND WIN IN STAGE 6

Win number 2 for Ewan at Karak

The stage 6 winners

KARAK, Friday 13th March 2015 - Orica GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan took his second stage win in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2015 in a bunch sprint in Stage 6 from Kuantan to Karak today.

Ewan, 21, beat Team Southeast's Jakub Mareczko to the win as favourite Andrea Guardini faltered to finish fifth on the day, not adding to his record 17 stage wins as predicted by many before the start of the 96.6km stage, the shortest of this year's race.

The stage saw a four-man breakaway escape from the peloton and were caught with 20km to go as Guardini's Astana team launched a chase.

The sprint was set-up for Guardini, but he slipped down and only managed to sprint to fifth, as Ewan registered his second win of the year in his first race outside of Australia as a pro.

"It was a good sprint and my team led me out well. I was in a good position to make the jump and I just went for it. I was looking out for Guardini, but then I saw he had some trouble and wasn't coming up, so I just gave it my all," said Ewan, who also won Stage Three from Gerik to Tanah Merah on Tuesday.

Ewan's win meant he also retained the overall lead and the points classification lead, which he will have to defend in the tough Stage 7 from Shah Alam to Frasers Hill tomorrow.

"I can climb a bit on my day, biut I'm not a really good climber. I'll see how it goes, but for sure I will fight to keep the yellow jersey all the way," said Ewan.

Ewan also stated his intention of keeping both the yellow and blue jerseys until the end in Dataran Merdeka on Sunday, while United Healthcare's Kiel Reijnen looks in a comfortable position to confirm his king of the mountains jersey win with a big points gap between second placed Natnael Berhane of MTN-Qhubeka and himself in the mountains classification.

There will be a mouthwatering seven-way battle for the Asian riders' classification in Stage 7 tomorrow with leader Zhang Wen Long of Giant-Champion System holding on to a slim lead with the top seven riders only separated by two seconds.

Second placed Liu Jianpeng of Hengxiang is level on time with Zhang, with third placed Robin Manullang of Pegasus just a second behind, fourth placed Tomohiro Hayakawa of Aisan Racing Team, fifth placed Andrey Zeits of Astana, sixth placed Chelly Aristya and seventh placed Dadi Suryadi, both of Pegasus, are all just 2 seconds off Zhang's lead.

Stage 7 will feature three tough climbs at Bukit Cherakah, Genting Sempah and the finish at Frasers Hill in a 170km route that will likely decide the 20th winner of LTdL

GUARDINI DOES IT AGAIN

Stage 4 starts at Kota Bahru

Andra takes his 3rd win at LTdL 2015

Winners of Stage 4

KUALA BERANG, Wednesday 11th March 2015 - Andrea Guardini again proved unstoppable in a bunch spritn when the Astana Pro Team rider took his third win of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2015 in a bunch sprint in Stage Four from Kota Baru to Kuala Berang today.

Guardini, 27, beat Team Southeast's Jakub Mareczko to the finish line, with Orica-GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan finishing third this time but held on to both the overall general classification and points classification leads. This was also Guardini's 17th ever win in the race's history, extending even further his already impressive record.

"I am happy with the way the sprint went. I managed a really good sprint to take this win. Today was a really fast paced stage with the speed in the earlier part already very high at 50 to 60 kp/h," said Guardini.

"I then had a good lead-out and I took a good risk, then the job was done. For the moment, this is a good result. But for now, I think I can do more than this."

A five-man breakaway of United Healthcare's Jonathan Clarke, Bretagne-Seche Environnement's Pierre-Luc Perichon, Synergy Baku's Elchin Asadov, Skydive Dubai's Vladimir Gusev and Pegasus Jamalidin Novardianto escaped the peloton after 30km of the 165km stage and they took all the intermediate points on offer for the day before the peloton caught them 2km from the finish.

Ewan lost out to Guardini and had to settle for third this time, but was not raising his hopes to much when asked about his chances of keeping the overall lead to the end of the race.

"I climbed well yesterday and tried to just stay in the group. But I'm not really a pure climber. I prefer to sprint. It depends on the day. If I feel good on the day, then I can climb well, but if I don't then it will be the other way around," said Ewan, who won Stage 3 yesterday after surviving the tough climb across the summit of Titiwangsa.

United Healthcare's Kiel Reijnen retained the mountains classification lead, as did Asian riders classification leader Zhang Wen Long of the Giant-Champion System team.

Stage Five is the longest stage of the race at 200km from Kuala Terengganu to Kuantan with coastal crosswinds and undulating terrain providing a different challenge to the peloton, which could provide an opportunity for a differnet rider to take the top step of the podium.

BATTLE OF THE SPRINTERS WILL STEAL THE SHOW IN THE EARLY STAGES

All eyes on them this 20th edition : (L-R) Merhawi Kudus (MTN Qhubeka), Sebastian Henao (Sky), Alessandro Petacchi (Southeast), LTdL 2015 CEO Datuk Malik Mydin, Andrea Guardini (Astana), Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Anuar Manan (TSG)

KUALA LUMPUR - LANGKAWI, Saturday 7th March 2015 - While the presence of the world's biggest teams - Team Sky and Saxo-Tinkoff - will arguably be the main draw of the 20th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) that starts in Pantai Chenang tomorrow, the battle of the sprinters is likely to be explosive in the earlier stages.

With a line-up of sprinters that features the likes of Alessandro Petacchi, Andrea Guardini, Caleb Ewan, Francesco Chicchi and Jakub Mareczko, the race will be lit up by explosive bunch sprints in the predominantly flat stages of the race.
Local hopes will lie with TSG's Anuar Manan, who says his team packs a good chance with teammate Harrif Saleh on form, having already bagged two UCI Asia Tour stage wins this season.
The legendary 41-year old Petacchi still packs a powerful sprint, but remains certain that he will be working more for his Southeast teammate Mareczko, while the young Australian Ewan could be the surprise package in this year's edition which will start with Astana's record stage winner Guardini as the favourite.

Both Italians, Petacchi and Guardini began their careers with stage victories in LTdL, Petacchi in 1999 and Guardini in 2011, but while the former is likely to be on the verge of winding down his career, the latter is at his peak and this could yet be his most successful yet, with already a stage win in the Tour of Oman under his belt.

"I don't know if this is the best form of my life, but I have worked a lot during the winter to prepare for this season and I have good form, that showed in Oman where I won a stage and I had good form in the other races leading to this one," said Guardini, who in 2012 achieved a record of six stage wins in one edition of LTdL.
"This year we have two stages less than last year, with eight stages, but there are some stages which could be good, like the one here in Langkawi where I won my first stage. We will first try to go for the first win, then see what happens after that."
Petacchi says he is now more as a lead-out man for Mareczko, but will not pass on an opportunity to go for a win should it arise.
"I can try to sprint for wins, but in our team we have also have a good chance with Mareczko. We need to do good sprints with Mareczko to help him win stages, but if there are some days when he finds it hard, then I can try to win myself," said Petacchi.
Young Ewan comes to the race on the back of a strong showing in the Herald Sun Tour, where he won two stages in his first season with the UCI Pro Team Orica-GreenEdge, but admits the strength of the field could see the going tough for him, but the immense heat in Malaysia could work in his favour.
Team Sky will parade a team led by young Colombian Sebastian Henao, who will be the one the team is banking on to deliver the overall title, but his main challengers could well be in the form of fellow-Colombians in the field, also the young Eritrean Merhawi Kudus, who shocked the world by finishing second overall last year.
"I am going to look at how the race goes. Yes, normally we have a good showing here from Colombians, mainly because we are used to the weather, which is similar. But we are also normally good for the climbs. We have a good team here, with also Philip Deignan capable of climbing well. We will see how it goes," said Henao, 22.

Organised by Human Voyage Sdn Bhd, the 20th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from 8 to 15 March, 2015 is set to cover more than 1,000km over 8 stages, the UCI 2.HC (hors category) race featuring again as one of the biggest events on the UCI Asia Tour calendar.