2013 Le Tour de langkawi

LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI 2013 - Stages 8 and 9.

Mar 1: With one stage left race leader Julian David Arredondo has a full 1'15" over Pieter Weening in the quest to secure his first win at Le Tour de Langkawi Sergion Pardilla of of MTN Qhubeka lies at 2'10" in third with Peter Steina 22" adrfitin fourth. Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Europcar) dominated the sprint to take both stage 8 and stage 9 wins.

Stage 9 Podium - Wang, Arredondo, Guardini: © Le Tour de Langkawi

Stage 10 of LTdL 2013 on Saturday involves a 114.8km route from Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terengganu with three intermediate sprints, one at Padang Air and two more across the finish line as the peloton does two loops around Kuala Terengganu before the finish.   

Stage 8 - Kuala Terengganu - Tanah Merah, Thursday

Olympic Medallist Bryan Coquard, who took Omnium silver at London2012, shook off the challenge of Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Andrew Fenn and Stage 4 winner Francesco Chicchi to add to his debut season palmares with an emphatic win. The 20-year old had already won two two stages in the Etoile de Besseges before coming to LTdL.

He had aleready kocked on the door of victory once with second place behind Theo Bos on stage 1 and looked certain to turn in the result when he a mistake saw him finish a disappoinitng eighth in Stage 7 in Dungun the day before.

"Yesterday I wasn't able to sprint well at the final moment but today I worked hard and was lucky to win this stage. My performance is at a good level and I was ready to take another chance today," said Coquard. "In the final kilometre I was in a good position, in 10th or 11th and I took the chance in the final 200 metres to start my sprint from the right and overtake the riders at the front."

Stage 8 results - Top 10

Bryan Coquard flexes his muscles: © Le Tour de Langkawi

Stage 9 - Pasir Puteh - Kuala Berang, Friday. Coquard had to ride just 123km (76.86 miles), though at average speed of 45.73kph (28.43mph), to secure a second win. Francesco Chicchi held off Orica-GreenEdge's Allan Davis for second spot.

"To achieve my first win in this race [yesterday], especially with such a strong field was difficult. But when I found my rhythm, it became easier and today's win has made me very happy," said Coquard.  "My lead-out man Kevin Reza managed to put me on the wheel of Davis with 300m to go, when Greame Brown (Blanco) was in front. After that I found space and managed to sprint to overtake them and all the way to the finish. As you can see it is very competitive. Each day the top finishers are not the same ones, so the field has many strong sprinters. But today my team managed to do again what they did yesterday and we won again," added Coquard, winner of the silver medal in the Omnium at the Olympic Games in London last year.

Winner of Stage 4, Chicchi had to settle for runner-up when his team's tactical plans went astray after his leadout man Michele Merlo was involved in a crash in the final kilometre.

"Merlo had an accident and I had to sprint on my own and I started my sprint in around 25th position, but it was too late because at that point Coquard was too far ahead," said Chicchi, the 2002 under-23 world champion.

Coquard makes it two on the trot: © Le Tour de Langkawi

Peloton in full flow © Le Tour de Langkawi

Result - top 3

General Classification after Stage 9 - top 10

The full team line-up is:

Race Route for 2013

2013 Tour de Langkawi Route © LTDL2013

22 teams, including UCI Pro Teams Astana and Garmin-Sharp, have confirmed participation in the race.

LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI 2013 ROUTE 20/02/13 - 2/3/2013:

Stage 1 – Thursday 21 February 2013 : Kangar – Kulim (163.7 Km)
Stage 2 – Friday 22 February 2013 : Serdang – Kuala Kangsar (116.0 Km)
Stage 3 – Saturday 23 February 2013 : Sungai Siput – Cameron Highlands (145.5 Km)
Stage 4 - Sunday 24 February 2013 : Tapah – Kapar (168.0 Km)
Stage 5 – Monday 25 February 2013 : Proton – Genting (108.0 Km)
Stage 6 – Tuesday 26 February 2013 : Mentakab – Kuantan (212.8 Km)
Stage 7  - Wednesday 27 February 2013 : Kuantan – Dungun (149.8 Km)
Stage 8 – Thursday 28 February 2013 : Kuala Terengganu – Tanah Merah (164.5 Km)
Stage 9 – Friday 1 March 2013 : Pasir Puteh – Kuala Berang (123.6 Km)
Stage 10 – Saturday 2 March 2013 : Tasik Kenyir – Kuala Terengganu (114.8 Km)

TOTAL DISTANCE : 1466.6km

Links

2013 Tour de langkawi Official Website

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