Le Tour de Langkawi 2018 – Stage 5 [Highlights]

March 22, 2018

Le Tour de Langkawi 2018 – Stage 5 – Bentong – Cameron Highlands : 169,4 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, but has been reduced to eight stages over recent years. 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.

The Terengganu Cycling Team has secured its first ever stage win and leader’s jersey at the Tour de Langkawi courtesy of Russian Artem Ovechkin. The former Katusha rider only joined the Malaysian team earlier this month and proved a worthy addition as he took a solo win at Cameron Highlands.

Ovechkin made his move 25km from the line and, having caught the remnants of the breakaway, held off Ben Dyball (St George) by 28 seconds and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Dimension Data) by 55 seconds. Adam De Vos (Rally) dug deep but was unable to defend yellow and dropped out of the top ten overall.

“We do training camps here with TSG and the Malaysian team. He won a race in Turkey about a month ago so we said come on, let’s see if you can win Tour de Langkawi,” TSG’s sports director Jeremy Hunt told Cyclingnews. “In our dreams, our plan was to win a stage and the overall. We still haven’t done that but what happened today was amazing.”

Unsure of the climb’s difficulty and the strength of Ovechkin, the Russian’s two-minute lead was cut on the line by the chasing group, but his margin was still enough to move into yellow.

“The chase group hesitated a bit too much in the middle of the climb, you can’t bring back two minutes in a few kilometres… It’s one of the longer climbs I’ve done, probably the last nine kilometres is hard. Most of the beginning is just rolling flat parts but it’s definitely a tough climb,” Dyball told Eurosport of the chase group’s effort.

For Dimension Data, there was no repeat of the stage win from last year. Ghebreigzabhier, though, is just two seconds off the podium placing with the African Continental champion poised for his best GC result to date.

“My feelings were good in the climb so I tried many times and the group is split many times. With my condition, I am so happy with my performance,” he told Cyclingnews.

After the sole mountain stage of the race, stage 6 of the Tour de Langkawi from Tapah to Tanjung Malim is another day for the sprinters.

How it unfolded

In Betong for the start of stage 5, Kaden Groves was the only DNS with the remaining 120 riders in the race signing on for the queen stage. From the gun, Johan van Zyl attacked solo to provide a reminder of Dimension Data’s presence in the race despite losing Mekseb Debesay to a fractured pelvis the previous day.

Van Zyl’s move would prove short-lived with the aggressive start to the day continuing past the first sprint point at Raub 30km into the stage. A five-rider move went but it wasn’t the chosen break for the day. Instead, the sextet of Luca Wackermann (Bardiani-CSF), Juan Felipe Osorio (Manzana-Postobon), Massimo Rosa (Wilier Triestina), Zheng Zhang (Hengxiang), Muhammad Zawawi (Sapura) and Muhammad Elmi Jumari (Malaysia) would form the day-long breakaway after the second sprint point.

The leaders enjoyed a maximum lead of three minutes on the flat roads to the Cameron Highlands climb before the GC teams started to ramp up the pace in preparation for the ascent. With 30km to go, Zhang was the first rider dropped from the break with Astana cutting the breakaway’s lead to 1:30 minutes.

With 25km to race, Osorio and Wackermann distanced their former breakaway companion. The peloton was 1:45 minutes in arrears when Artem Ovechkin made his winning move and bridged across to the two leaders. Having made contact with 20km to race, Ovechkin and Osorio then rode away from Wackermann.

Ovechkin, who was suspended in 2013 for testing positive to Fenoterol, quickly went solo as the peloton’s deficit increased to two minutes behind the now virtual leader of the race. Only then did the reaction come from the peloton with the likes of Dyball and Ghebreigzabhier forming a chase group of eight. On the run into the line, Dyball was the quickest but ran out of road to catch Ovechkin. Behind the Australian, Ghebreigzabhier was the only other rider inside one minute of the winning time.

Despite missing the top-10, Harry Sweeny held on to his third place. The top two places overall are likely to remain unchanged but the top-10 is far from settled with three stages to race.

For TSG, the acrimonious post-stage fight in its hometown of Terengganu quickly forgotten, the result was its best yet since forming in 2011.

Results :
1 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) Terengganu Cycling Team 4:24:29
2 Benjamin Dyball (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:00:28
3 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier Werkilul (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:55
4 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:01
5 Thomas Lebas (Fra) Kinan Cycling Team
6 Alvaro Raul Duarte Sandoval (Col) Forca Amskins Racing 0:01:02
7 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:01:04
8 Piotr Brozyna (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:10
9 Luca Raggio (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
10 Metkel Eyob (Eri) Terengganu Cycling Team
11 Marcos Garcia Fernandez (Spa) Kinan Cycling Team 0:01:19
12 Drew Morey (Aus) Terengganu Cycling Team
13 Sam Crome (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team
14 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:01:23
15 Victor Niño Corredor (Col) Team Sapura Cycling
16 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:01:30
17 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:01:47
18 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon
19 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
20 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
21 Wilmar Jahir Perez Muñoz (Col) Team Sapura Cycling
22 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
23 Kevin Rivera Serrano (CRc) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:01:50
24 Harrison Sweeny (Aus) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:01:57
25 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:02:14
26 Simone Velasco (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:02:20
27 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
28 Brendon Davids (RSA) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team
29 Phuchong Saiudomsin (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
30 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team
31 Muhammad Abdurrohman (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
32 Salvador Guardiola (Spa) Kinan Cycling Team
33 Ariya Phounsavath (Lao) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
34 John Ebsen (Den) Forca Amskins Racing
35 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
36 Rustom Lim (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
37 Jiankun Liu (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange
38 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
39 Jay Dutton (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
40 Peerapol Chawchiangkwang (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:02:25
41 Aiman Cahyadi (Ina) Team Sapura Cycling 0:02:57
42 Muhamad Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff (Mas) Team Sapura Cycling
43 Jianpeng Liu (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team
44 Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
45 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:03:07
46 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
47 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team
48 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
49 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data
50 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
51 Agung Sahbana (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
52 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:11
53 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:34
54 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
55 Morgan Smith (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team
56 Muhammad Zawawi Azman (Mas) Team Sapura Cycling 0:03:59
57 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
58 Azli Najmi Zulkefli (Mas) Malaysia
59 Hang Shi (Chn) Giant Cycling Team
60 Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:04:03
61 Soonyeong Kwon (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
62 Nik Mohd Hazwan Zulkiflie (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:04:33
63 Mathew Zenovich (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:05:54
64 Ryan Cavanagh (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
65 Dylan Page (Swi) Team Sapura Cycling 0:06:33
66 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:07:45
67 Carmelo Franco Martinez (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
68 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:08:21
69 Daniel Ven Cariño (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
70 Selamat Juangga (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
71 Amir Mustafa Rusli (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing
72 Muhammad Shaiful Adlan Mohd Shukri (Mas) Malaysia
73 Arjay Peralta (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
74 Jordan Arley Parra Arias (Col) Manzana Postobon
75 Sarawut Sirironnachai (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
76 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:09:17
77 Marko Kump (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:10:19
78 Sungbaek Park (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
79 Muhammad Elmi Jumari (Mas) Malaysia 0:10:54
80 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:11:37
81 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:12:43
82 Yikui Niu (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:13:44
83 Massimo Rosa (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:14:57
84 Fernando Orjuela Gutierrez (Col) Manzana Postobon
85 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
86 Abdul Gani (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
87 Kenji Nakanishi (Jpn) Kinan Cycling Team 0:15:49
88 Muhamad Firdaus Awang (Mas) Malaysia
89 Daeyeon Kim (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:20:06
90 Muhammad Ameer Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia 0:20:44
91 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:22:20
92 Dominic Perez (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines
93 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:22:29
94 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:24:18
95 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
96 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
97 Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF
98 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
99 Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
100 Andris Vosekalns (Lat) Hengxiang Cycling Team
101 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Mitchelton-BikeExchange
102 Anuar Manan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing
103 Mahrus Ali (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
104 Sea Keong Loh (Mas) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
105 Genki Yamamoto (Jpn) Kinan Cycling Team
106 Imam Arifin Muh (Ina) KFC Cycling Team
107 Mohd Harrif Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team
108 Guangtong Ma (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team
109 Meng Yan (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team
110 Bo Wang (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team
111 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
112 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
113 Mohd Zamri Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:24:59
114 Sukho Kang (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:26:05
115 Seungwoo Choi (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling
116 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:28:18
117 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:28:33
118 Zheng Zhang (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:29:01
DNF Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
DNF Muhammad Ameen Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia
DNS Kaden Groves (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) Terengganu Cycling Team 21:21:34
2 Benjamin Dyball (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:00:32
3 Harrison Sweeny (Aus) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:00:59
4 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier Werkilul (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:01
5 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:07
6 Thomas Lebas (Fra) Kinan Cycling Team 0:01:08
7 Alvaro Raul Duarte Sandoval (Col) Forca Amskins Racing 0:01:10
8 Metkel Eyob (Eri) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:01:20
9 Piotr Brozyna (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
10 Luca Raggio (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
11 Sam Crome (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:01:29
12 Marcos Garcia Fernandez (Spa) Kinan Cycling Team
13 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:01:31
14 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:01:33
15 Drew Morey (Aus) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:01:39
16 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:01:56
17 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon
18 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:57
19 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
20 Wilmar Jahir Perez Muñoz (Col) Team Sapura Cycling
21 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
22 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:02:14
23 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:02:22
24 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:02:27
25 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:02:28
26 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:02:30
27 Salvador Guardiola (Spa) Kinan Cycling Team
28 Simone Velasco (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
29 Brendon Davids (RSA) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team
30 Ariya Phounsavath (Lao) Thailand Continental Cycling Team
31 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:02:40
32 Kevin Rivera Serrano (CRc) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:02:42
33 Muhammad Abdurrohman (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:02:55
34 Jianpeng Liu (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:03:05
35 Aiman Cahyadi (Ina) Team Sapura Cycling 0:03:07
36 Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
37 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:13
38 Muhamad Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff (Mas) Team Sapura Cycling 0:03:16
39 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:03:17
40 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data
41 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
42 Jiankun Liu (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:03:20
43 Simone Sterbini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:21
44 Nik Mohd Hazwan Zulkiflie (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:03:27
45 Rustom Lim (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:03:43
46 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:54
47 Peerapol Chawchiangkwang (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:03:55
48 Phuchong Saiudomsin (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:04:01
49 Morgan Smith (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:04:05
50 Muhammad Zawawi Azman (Mas) Team Sapura Cycling 0:04:07
51 Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:04:09
52 Victor Niño Corredor (Col) Team Sapura Cycling 0:04:27
53 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:28
54 Mathew Zenovich (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:06:04
55 Azli Najmi Zulkefli (Mas) Malaysia 0:06:16
56 Juan Felipe Osorio Arboleda (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:06:22
57 Dylan Page (Swi) Team Sapura Cycling 0:06:42
58 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:07:00
59 John Ebsen (Den) Forca Amskins Racing 0:07:12
60 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:07:55
61 Agung Sahbana (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:07:59
62 Jordan Arley Parra Arias (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:08:28
63 Sarawut Sirironnachai (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:08:34
64 Carmelo Franco Martinez (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:08:35
65 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:09:27
66 Marko Kump (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:10:51
67 Hang Shi (Chn) Giant Cycling Team 0:11:01
68 Ryan Cavanagh (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:12:11
69 Selamat Juangga (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:13:13
70 Muhammad Shaiful Adlan Mohd Shukri (Mas) Malaysia
71 Yikui Niu (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:13:51
72 Jay Dutton (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:13:57
73 Fernando Orjuela Gutierrez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:15:07
74 Daniel Ven Cariño (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:16:51
75 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:17:35
76 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:20:18
77 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:21:19
78 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:21:46
79 Massimo Rosa (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:21:47
80 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:22:39
81 Amir Mustafa Rusli (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:23:40
82 Sungbaek Park (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:23:44
83 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:24:04
84 Muhammad Elmi Jumari (Mas) Malaysia 0:24:26
85 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:24:48
86 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 0:25:04
87 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:28:28
88 Arjay Peralta (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:28:29
89 Soonyeong Kwon (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:28:35
90 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:28:36
91 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:29:20
92 Abdul Gani (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:33:04
93 Muhamad Firdaus Awang (Mas) Malaysia 0:35:08
94 Dominic Perez (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:35:45
95 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:37:20
96 Mohd Harrif Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:37:39
97 Anuar Manan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:37:43
98 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
99 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Mitchelton-BikeExchange
100 Daeyeon Kim (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:38:01
101 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:38:03
102 Mohd Zamri Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:38:24
103 Muhammad Ameer Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia 0:38:51
104 Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:39:54
105 Andris Vosekalns (Lat) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:41:29
106 Bo Wang (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:41:54
107 Umberto Orsini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:41:55
108 Imam Arifin Muh (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:42:25
109 Guangtong Ma (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:42:31
110 Meng Yan (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:43:15
111 Mahrus Ali (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:43:27
112 Seungwoo Choi (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:44:00
113 Sea Keong Loh (Mas) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:44:35
114 Genki Yamamoto (Jpn) Kinan Cycling Team 0:44:45
115 Kenji Nakanishi (Jpn) Kinan Cycling Team 0:45:50
116 Zheng Zhang (Chn) Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:47:34
117 Sukho Kang (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:48:21
118 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:50:29