Le Tour de Langkawi 2018 – Stage 6 [Highlights]

March 23, 2018

Le Tour de Langkawi 2018 – Stage 6 – Tapah – Tanjung Malim : 108,5 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.

Having already won in Gabon and Taiwan this season, Luca Pacioni continued his winning start to his Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia career with stage 6 victory at the Tour de Langkawi. Pacioni beat Riccardo Minali (Astana), who has two stages in the race this year, and Malaysian Mohd Harrif Saleh (Terengganu) to the win. Andrea Guardini (Bardiani-CSF) was fourth.

Artem Ovechkin (Terengganu) finished safely in the bunch and retains the yellow jersey over Ben Dyball (St George) with two stages to race.

“This is my most beautiful victory so far after I won the last stages of Tour of Taiwan and Tropicale Amissa Bongo,” said Pacioni, a former Lampre-Merida stagiaire who joined the team from Androni at the end of last season.

“Now with these three victories I have shown the team that I can also be a sprinter and deserve respect as a sprinter. In the team we have Jakub Mareczko, he was winning sprints here the last two years, and he is faster than me. I am not a pure sprinter but I am not afraid of putting myself in the sprints.”

For Terengganu, it was the team’s first day defending a leader’s jersey at HC level and passed with little stress. Third place for Harrif and tenth place for Metkel Eyob in the sprint ensuring a successful day all around.

“It was okay today. Bardiani took a lot of responsibility. They obviously wanted to set it up for Guardini so it was just a matter of making sure no one dangerous went up the road,” TSG’s Drew Morey told Cyclingnews of the day defending yellow.

“We had two guys up the road working with Bardiani-CSF and then some of the bigger teams took control which was nice for us.”

Ovechkin, who described stage 6 as “an easy day”, is sure to be tested on stage seven with six categorised climbs and 222.4 kilometres on the menu. The stage is expected to finish in a group sprint but the 2018 Tour de Langkawi is proving to be a race full of surprises.

How it unfolded

After the transfer down Cameron Highlands, the peloton assembled in Tapah for stage 6 of the Tour de Langkawi. The shortest stage of the race at just over 100km was expected to see a return to the field sprint finals.

With no break forming by the first sprint and key seconds on offer for the GC riders, Astana’s Yevgeniy Gidich stole in behind Jacob Hennessy for two seconds with Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier claimed third and one second. The time bonuses would not change the top-ten overall, at least for for now.

Dominic Perez (7/11), Amir Mustafa (Forca Amskins) and Genki Yamamoto (Kinan), with Drew Morey (Terengganu) in pursuit, came close to initially the day’s breakaway. Turakit Boonratanathanakorn then made his solo move with Perez launching a late bid to join the Thai rider. Boonratanathanakorn pushed on alone at the halfway mark of the race as the rains begun to fall and quickly saw his lead reach 2:30 minutes. Wang Bo (Hengxiang) wasn’t fazed by the time gap and also tried to bridge, albeit unsuccessfully as he was stuck in no man’s land.

At the sole categorised climb of the day in Felda Besout, Boonratanathanakorn had 3:20 minutes as the rain continued to fall. The sprint teams came to the front of the peloton to control the move, bringing his lead down to 1:30 minutes with 20km to race.

There was added drama to the catch as Andrea Guardini suffered a mechanical and a number of attacks were launched from the peloton before Boonratanathanakorn was swallowed up with five kilometres to race.

Guardini’s Bardiani-CSF squad took up the reins in the finale but it was Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia and Luca Pacioni taking the victory following excellent lead-out work by Eugert Zhupa. Pacioni becoming the fifth winner in six stages of the 2018 Tour de Langkawi and third Italian after Guardini and Minali.

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

General Classification after Stage 6 :
1 Artem Ovechkin (Rus) Terengganu Cycling Team 23:46:29
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 0:01:00
5 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:05
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 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:01:56
17 Luca Chirico (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
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 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
41 Johann Van Zyl (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 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Bennelong Swisswellness Cycling Team 0:21:19
77 Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:21:46
78 Massimo Rosa (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:21:47
79 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:22:29
80 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:23:31
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 0:23:58
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 0:28:59
91 Abdul Gani (Ina) KFC Cycling Team 0:33:04
92 Muhamad Firdaus Awang (Mas) Malaysia 0:35:08
93 Dominic Perez (Phi) 7 Eleven – Cliqq Roadbike Philippines 0:35:45
94 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:37:20
95 Mohd Harrif Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:37:35
96 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:37:40
97 Anuar Manan (Mas) Forca Amskins Racing 0:37:43
98 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
99 Daeyeon Kim (Kor) KSPO Bianchi Asia Procycling 0:38:01
100 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:38:03
101 Mohd Zamri Saleh (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team 0:38:24
102 Muhammad Ameer Ahmad Kamal (Mas) Malaysia 0:38:51
103 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:39:20
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 Genki Yamamoto (Jpn) Kinan Cycling Team 0:44:45
114 Sea Keong Loh (Mas) Thailand Continental Cycling Team 0:44:58
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 0:48:44
118 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Rally Cycling 0:52:48