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).

ARREDONDO TOPS GENTING, SWEEPS YELLOW AND RED JERSEYS

GENTING HIGHLANDS, Monday 25 February 2013 - Team Nippo-De Rosa's Julian Arredondo won Stage 5 of Le Tour de Langkawi 2013 to claim the yellow jersey as the new overall leader of the race at the end of the Tour's toughest stage from the Proton Centre of Excellence in Subang Jaya  to Genting Highlands today.

The 25-year old from Colombia was in second place overall prior to the 110.3 kilometre stage which he completed in 3 hours 11 minutes and 41 seconbds, 26 seconds ahead of Orica-GreenEdge's Pieter Weening in second place and 44 in front of RTS Racing's Victor Nino.

The previous yellow jersey holder Wang Meiyin (Hengxiang Cycling Team), who had a 2 minutes and 43 seconds advantage over Arredondo, only managed to finish 20th and dropped to fifth overall.

Arrendondo who had 20 points in the mountains classification at the start of the stage, added 25 points to his tally to also grab the king of the mountains red jersey from Meiyin.

However, Meiyin still remained in the lead of the Asian riders' classification, thanks to his powerful performance in winning the Cameron Highlands stage on Saturday.

The blue jersey of the points classification leader remained with Astana's Andrea Guardini for another day after the Italian took charge of it when he finished second to Francesco Chicchi in a bunch sprint that ended Stage 4 yesterday.

Right after the official start, Orica-GreenEdge's Travis Meyer made an early breakaway attempt riding solo and opened up a nine minute gap ahead of the peloton and took the mountains hot spot in Bukit Cerakah and three intermediate sprints at Coalfields, PAya Jaras and Gombak, before being caught by the peloton when the climbing began at Genti8ng Sempah.

As expected the climbers waited for the Genting stage before making their big moves and Arredondo, accompanied by his teammate Fortunato Baliani led the front group of 22 riders when they began the final part of the climb at Gohtong Jaya, 10km from the finish.

"I was just watching how the yellow jersey (Meiyin) was behaving today before making my move. I had my teammate Baliani with me and we jumped to attack with 10km to go when we saw that Meiyin had been dropped," said Arredondo.

"This is my biggest win to date. I had won some races as an amateur in Italy and I only turned professional with Team Nippo last year, when I won the Japan Cup.

"Now I have a comfortable lead at the front and I hope my teammates will be able to control the race in the remaining stages."

Meanwhile, Meiyin, who did not get much help from his teammates in the climb, admitted that he was disdappointed in losing the yellow jersey after winning the Cameron Highlands stage.

"I must admit that there are other stronger climbers here but I am satisfied with giving my best so far," said Meiyin.

Guardini, who finished 101st, can't wait to get back to the flat stages where he is targeting his first win in this year's race to add to his record 11 wins achieved in the past two editions.

"Tomorrow is the longest stage and there might be some breakaway attempts, but the final four stages are flat and we can expects some bunch sprints.

"I hope to retain my points classification jersey and at least one stage by the end of the race."

Stage 6 tomorrow is the longest stage of this year's race covering 217.8km from Mentakab to Kuantan with three intermediate sprints in Jerantut, Bandar Jengka and Maran and three mountains hot spots in Sungai Piul, Kota Gelanggi and Jengka.

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).

MEIYIN DOMINATES CAMERON HIGHLANDS STAGE

CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Saturday 23 February 2013 - Hengxiang Cycling Team's Wang Meiyin created his own piece of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) history when he won Stage 3 from Sungai Siput to Cameron Highlands and swept all four leaders' jerseys.

The 25-year old cyclist drew on all his strength to win the 140.7 kilometre stage by riding the final 40 kilometres solo after he dropped four other breakaway partners who had conspired to escape about 10 kilometres into the stage.

Meiyin finished in 3 hours 50 minutes and 01 seconds, 2 minutes and 27 seconds ahead of second placed Julian David Arredondo of Team Nippo and Nathan Haas of Garmin-Sharp.

After leading the Asian riders' classification from the first stage on Thursday, Meiyin yesterday finished by adding the yellow jersey as the overall leader, the blue jersey as the points classification leader andf the red jersey as the mountains classification leader to his collection.

He now leads double stage winner Theo Bos by six points after collecting 36 points in total and has a comfortable lead in the mountains classification with 44 points, with second placed Arredondo only with 20 points. His lead in the Asian riders' classification is now extended to 3 minutes and 38 seconds over second placed Alexandr Dyachenko of Astana.

"This is the greatest day of my life. It is also my biggest success so far," said Meiyin.

"I was only thinking of joining the breakaway, but I didn't expect to win like this. It was not part of our team's plans. The plan was for two other teammates to get in the breakaway, but they didn't manage to do so.

"So I tried to go and succeeded. When we reached the foot of the climb, I managed to drop the other four riders and continue with my pace.

"Maybe the riders in the peloton also made a mistake and didn't try to catch me earlier because they don't know me or they thought they could catch me. So I was lucky."

"But I must admit that this was not an easy climb."

Meiyin added that he will try to defend the lead when the race reaches its most difficult stage, the climb up to Genting Highlands on Monday for Stage Five.

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).