Le Tour de Langkawi 2017 – Stage 7 [Highlights]

February 28, 2017

Le Tour de Langkawi 2017 – Stage 7– Melaka – Rembau – 148,1 KM

The Tour de Langkawi is a multiple stage bicycle race held in Malaysia. It is named after the archipelago Langkawi, where the first edition started and finished. The race has been held annually since 1996, primarily in the month of February. It usually consists of 10 day-long segments (stages) over 10 days. While the route changes each year, the Genting Highlands climb, the toughest in the tour, is always included. Tour de Langkawi is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC road race in the UCI Asia Tour calendar.

After six different winners in six stages, Jakub Mareczko broke the Tour de Langkawi trend of 2017 and claimed his second win of the race. The Wilier Triestina rider repeated his Rambau victory of 2016, holding off Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare) and Andrea Palini (Androni Giocattoli).

A second wet stage in as many days tested race leader Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) who sprinted to fifth. He will start the final day with a 24-second lead over Cam Bayly (IsoWhey Sports Swisswellness).

The victory also saw Mareczko take over the lead in the sprints classification that he is aiming to defend on the final day circuit.”I don’t know what will happen tomorrow because all the sprinters will be different,” he said of the stage 8 sprint. “The points jersey was my objective for this tour so today I take it and try tomorrow to keep it.”

For Gibbons, it’s one day closer to sealing the overall victory and, again, one he was happy to finish without losing time or hitting the deck.

“I was feeling very good today, my team was really good today and it was just more caution today in the wet. It is really easy to go down so stay upright and out of trouble was the priority for today and we did that,” said Gibbons.

Finishing in the top six all in five sprint stages thus far, McCabe explained to Cyclingnews that the Italian was simply too good today, tipping his hat to the 22-year-old. “It was the perfect finish for him. He just beat me. I am content with second,” said McCabe. “He is fast, you can’t really complain when you lose straight up in sprint like that.”

The eighth and final stage of the race will see the peloton start in Setiawangsa and before the circuit finish in Putrajaya.

How it unfolded

A fast start to stage 7 was inevitable, as it provided one last opportunity for a breakaway and a reshuffling of the GC before Wednesday’s circuit race in Putrajaya.

The aggressive beginning of the stage saw numerous attacks, a split in the peloton and a mass crash all before the first sprint point of the day. At the intermediate sprint point 25km into the stage, Gibbons’ third place saw him add one second to his overall lead.

A six-man break managed to get a small gap after the sprint point but with Lorenzo Rota (Bardiani-CSF) and then Tim Roe (IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness) bridging across, the peloton realised the danger of letting them go clear and brought it all back together again. Counterattacks followed off the front of the bunch as a new five-man break formed.

Greg Henderson (UnitedHealthcare), Jacopo Mosca (Wilier Triestina), Loh Sea Keong (Thailand), Huang En (Keyi Look) and Dominic Perez (7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine) were given the go-ahead from the bunch and pulled out a 1:30 minute lead a little over 50km into the stage. With that advantage, Mosca became the virtual leader of the race. The gap between the break and peloton hovered between 1:30 and two minutes as the rain started to fall at the 100km mark. As the rain continued, the advantage of the quintet fell, which was reduced to four as Perez called it a day.

Henderson and Mosca decided to trim the break further and forged on ahead together as their advantage dipped down to under one minute with 30km to race.

The duo then sat up on the approach to the third and final climb of the stage in Bukit Miku with eight kilometres to go. Over the climb, the sprint teams came to the fore with positioning key in the wet weather and technical final. On the final straight, it was Mareczko who had the staying power to hold off McCabe for his second win of the 2017 race.

Results :
1 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 3:23:45
2 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team
3 Andrea Palini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
4 Joonyong Seo (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
5 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Team Dimension Data
6 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Team Dimension Data
7 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
8 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
9 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
10 Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina
11 Rafael Andriato (Bra) Team Wilier Triestina
12 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
13 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
14 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
15 Kota Sumiyoshi (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
16 Sergio Higuita (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
17 Daniel Jaramillo Diez (Col) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team
18 Cameron Bayly (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
19 Chris Harper (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
20 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
21 Zhiwen Chen (Chn) Giant Cycling Team
22 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine
23 Robbie Hucker (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
24 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
25 Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
26 Daeyeon Kim (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
27 Carlos Alzate Escobar (Col) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team
28 Anuar Manan (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
29 Phuchong Saiudomsin (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
30 Tomohiro Hayakawa (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
31 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Androni Giocattoli
32 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
33 Fernando Orjuela (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
34 Wilmar Paredes (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
35 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Team Dimension Data
36 Ying Hon Ronald Yeung (HKg) Infinite AIS Cycling Team
37 Nur Amirull Fakhruddin Mazuki (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
38 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
39 Bernado Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
40 Eiman Firdaus Mohd Zamri (Mas) Malaysia National Team
41 Taras Voropayev (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors
42 Dmitriy Lukyanov (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors
43 Wilmar Jahir Perez Munoz (Col) Sapura Cycling Team
44 Victor Nino Corredor (Col) Sapura Cycling Team
45 Ryohei Komori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
46 Sofian Nabil Mohd Bakri (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team
47 Sergey Vlassenko (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors
48 M Afiq Huznie Othman (Mas) Infinite AIS Cycling Team
49 Nik Mohd Azwan Zulkiflie (Mas) Malaysia National Team
50 Timothy Roe (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
51 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina
52 Stepan Astafyev (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors
53 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
54 Mohd Zamri Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
55 M Ameer Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia National Team
56 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:16
57 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina
58 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:00:26
59 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:00:33
60 Shiki Kuroeda (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
61 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:00:43
62 Adrian Hegyvary (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:00:45
63 Penghai Deng (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:00:47
64 Nick Dougall (RSA) Team Dimension Data
65 Khunakorn Nonthichan (Tha) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:01:07
66 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 0:01:09
67 Jesse James Ewart (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:01:14
68 Aiman Cahyadi (Ina) Sapura Cycling Team 0:01:15
69 M. Izzat Hilmi Abd Halil (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team
70 Tianhao Gu (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:01:16
71 M Ameen Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia National Team
72 Irwandie Lakasek (Mas) Malaysia National Team
73 Siyu Yang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team
74 Nelson Martin (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine
75 Dadi Suryadi (Ina) Terengganu Cycling Team
76 M Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff (Mas) Malaysia National Team
77 Akmal Hakim Zakaria (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team
78 Hang Shi (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:01:28
79 Bonjoe Martin (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:01:38
80 Niccolo Pacinotti (Ita) Bardiani CSF
81 Maxat Ayazbayev (Kaz) Keyi Look Cycling Team
82 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Team Dimension Data
83 Yecid Sierra (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
84 Jacques Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data
85 Marino Kobayashi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
86 John Kronborg Ebsen (Den) Infinite AIS Cycling Team
87 Navuti Liphongyu (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
88 Kritsada Changpad (Tha) Infinite AIS Cycling Team
89 Marco Benfatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
90 Seungwoo Choi (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:02:03
91 Aspan Zhukenov (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors 0:02:09
92 Haiwang Liu (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:02:50
93 Xin Wang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team 0:03:20
94 Shijin Zhang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team
95 Sea Keong Loh (Mas) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:03:57
96 Dominic Perez (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:05:44
97 Juan Villegas (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:08:18
DNF Shotaro Watanabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
DNF Haesung Cho (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
DNF En Huang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team

General Classification after Stage 7 :
1 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Team Dimension Data 26:26:06
2 Cameron Bayly (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 0:00:24
3 Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:00:28
4 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:00:33
5 Chris Harper (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 0:00:34
6 Daniel Jaramillo Diez (Col) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team
7 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
8 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Team Dimension Data
9 Timothy Roe (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
10 Fernando Orjuela (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:00:41
11 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:58
12 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:01:03
13 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:01:07
14 Bernado Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:01:11
15 Robbie Hucker (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness
16 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Androni Giocattoli
17 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:23
18 Tomohiro Hayakawa (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 0:01:58
19 Dmitriy Lukyanov (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors
20 Victor Nino Corredor (Col) Sapura Cycling Team 0:02:06
21 Wilmar Jahir Perez Munoz (Col) Sapura Cycling Team 0:02:17
22 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:02:29
23 Wilmar Paredes (Col) Manzana Postobon Team
24 Ying Hon Ronald Yeung (HKg) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:02:46
25 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:04:26
26 Dadi Suryadi (Ina) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:04:28
27 Yecid Sierra (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:05:17
28 Sergey Vlassenko (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors 0:05:30
29 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Team Dimension Data 0:05:31
30 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:06:00
31 John Kronborg Ebsen (Den) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:07:16
32 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:07:27
33 Penghai Deng (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:07:30
34 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:07:53
35 Nik Mohd Azwan Zulkiflie (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:08:16
36 Jesse James Ewart (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:08:35
37 Hang Shi (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:09:36
38 Carlos Alzate Escobar (Col) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:09:38
39 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:10:42
40 M Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:11:24
41 Siyu Yang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team 0:13:19
42 Rafael Andriato (Bra) Team Wilier Triestina 0:13:25
43 Zhiwen Chen (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:13:48
44 M Ameer Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:13:55
45 Daeyeon Kim (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:14:08
46 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:14:22
47 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:14:34
48 Niccolo Pacinotti (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:14:50
49 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:10
50 Joonyong Seo (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:17:11
51 Jacques Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:19:02
52 M Ameen Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:20:18
53 Nick Dougall (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:20:19
54 Khunakorn Nonthichan (Tha) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:20:33
55 Sea Keong Loh (Mas) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:20:34
56 Sergio Higuita (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:23:01
57 Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:23:24
58 Stepan Astafyev (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors 0:25:17
59 Maxat Ayazbayev (Kaz) Keyi Look Cycling Team 0:25:18
60 Nelson Martin (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:25:22
61 Phuchong Saiudomsin (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:26:00
62 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 0:27:29
63 Aiman Cahyadi (Ina) Sapura Cycling Team 0:28:15
64 Taras Voropayev (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors 0:28:58
65 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:29:23
66 Nur Amirull Fakhruddin Mazuki (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:29:29
67 Kritsada Changpad (Tha) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:34:38
68 Xin Wang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team 0:35:29
69 Shiki Kuroeda (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 0:37:18
70 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:37:52
71 Tianhao Gu (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:38:08
72 Seungwoo Choi (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:38:16
73 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:41:16
74 Navuti Liphongyu (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:41:28
75 Mohd Zamri Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:42:18
76 Bonjoe Martin (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:42:48
77 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 0:42:59
78 Marco Benfatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:43:23
79 Kota Sumiyoshi (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 0:43:30
80 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:43:48
81 Dominic Perez (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippine 0:43:51
82 Ryohei Komori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
83 Haiwang Liu (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:44:25
84 Irwandie Lakasek (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:44:37
85 M Afiq Huznie Othman (Mas) Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:44:43
86 Adrian Hegyvary (USA) UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team 0:46:24
87 Aspan Zhukenov (Kaz) Vino Astana Motors 0:46:57
88 Akmal Hakim Zakaria (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team 0:47:06
89 Juan Villegas (Col) Manzana Postobon Team 0:47:16
90 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Team Wilier Triestina 0:47:36
91 Eiman Firdaus Mohd Zamri (Mas) Malaysia National Team 0:48:01
92 Shijin Zhang (Chn) Keyi Look Cycling Team 0:48:09
93 Sofian Nabil Mohd Bakri (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team 0:48:20
94 Andrea Palini (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:50:18
95 Anuar Manan (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:50:40
96 Marino Kobayashi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:50:42
97 M. Izzat Hilmi Abd Halil (Mas) Sapura Cycling Team 0:51:17