Tourism Malaysia Tour of Langkawi Stage 3
The first climbing stage, separated the G.C. contenders

Tour of Langkawi: Stage 3 (2.HC)
Lumut-Cameron Highlands Feb 5th…150.6 km
The first of two serious climbing stages that should ultimately decide the General Classification began in the seaside town of Lumut, and finished high in the Malaysian mountains in Cameron Highlands. The stage opened with 80 km of flat roads before hitting the first of two linked climbs that would cover over 50km of vertical road.

A fast first hour 52km:
A barrage of attacks launched the fastest opening hour of the tour thus far, as the field hit speeds of 60 km/hour on the wide open roads. Finally, South Africa delivered a power play move, putting 4 of their riders in a large break that included Navigators Insurance’s Grishkin and Walters, and Classification threats, Walters , David George (S. Africa), Gabriele Missaglia (Selle Italia), Robin Sharman (Recycling), and Sergey Matveyev (Panaria). Although eliminated from GC contention on the first day, the strong riding American Saul Raisin represented Credit Agricole in the lead group.

Ryan Cox last years winner missed the break as the quartet of South Africa mates went up the road.The most significant team to miss the move was the red clad Relax lads, and the Spaniards were quick to rally and get the team to the front of the now lackadaisical bunch. With the gap at around 1’20”, the Rojo Armada sent all six riders to the helm, and drove a torrid pace in pursuit. The large group ahead had significant motivation however, and the gap was very slow to close. The race took on a sense of desperation as the chase was racing against the clock in an effort to catch the leaders before they hit the start of the climb at 85 km.

With the gap closing to under 45 seconds, the lower approach to the climb turned the road up ever so slightly, and the subtle pitch was enough to disrupt the smooth locomotion of the Spanish team. Without their committed effort, the gap started to grow once again, but now the lead group was starting to shed some excess baggage. As the two groups passed the 50km to go banner, riders were already splattered over several kilometers, and the leaders were rolling a steady pace, urged on mostly by the South Africans.

With over 5 km of climbing, there were plenty of dramatic attacks and surges that would shred the main field, as the mountain now separated a very elite group of mountain goats. Navigators Insurance’s climbing star Cesar Grajales was one of the more active attackers, along with fellow Columbians Walter Pedraza, and Jose Serpa of Selle Italia, while defending champ Ryan Cox matched every move, along with the Iranian duo of Mizbani and Askari.
The leaders continued a steady pace while the chasers continued to whittle away at the gap…and each other. Ultimately, a hard attack by Grajales and Credit Agricole’s Francesco Bellotti, caught Cox in bad position, and the two sped away along with Serpa and Pedraza, Askari, and Bouygues Telecom’s Laurent Lefevre, & Le Boulanger, with Bellotti’s team-mate Le Boulanger.
The lead group was now down to ten riders including Walters, Raisin, George & Lill, Giant-Asia’s David McCann, LPR’S Iannetti, Missaglia, Kristian House, and Gene Bates. Bates and House would fall off and Walters and Iannetti found themselves in difficulty with about 8 km to go. A series of attacks would leave Raisin and the two South Africans alone at the front, with McCann and Missaglia struggling to keep close. The chase was sweeping past the dropped riders as they tried to close on the leaders.

 At 8kms from the finish Saul Raisin, the Credit Agricole rider who loves the mountains, and has said the tougher they are the more he likes them attacked in the last km dropping Lill Darren  Raisin pulled ahead of George on the final rise to the line, taking the stage win. George comes home in the same time to secure the yellow jersey, while Lill finishes 17 seconds back.
McCann, Missaglia, Laurent Lefevre (Bouygues Telecom), Francesco Bellotti and José Serpa complete the top eight.
Previous race leader Maximiliano Richeze (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare) finishes 20 minutes and 33 seconds down in 56th place. He drops to 35th on the G.C.

George takes the leaders jersey with Missaglia in 2nd, and Grajales’ 9th place finish moves him into 3rd in Classification. Tomorrow brings a bit of a reprieve as the peloton will hit the low roads for a flat journey south, before heading back to the hills for the race’s infamous climb of Genting Highlands in stage 5.

Stage 3 150 km Results
1 Raisin,Saul C.A Credit Agricole 4h03'55"
2 George,David RSA South Africa 4h03'55"
3 Lill,Darren RSA South Africa 4h04'12" @ 17"
4 McCann,David GNT Giant-Asia 4h04'27" @ 32"
5 Missaglia,Gabriele CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 4h04'32" @ 37"
=================== 2:16 =================
6  Lefevre,Laurent BTL Bouygues Telecom 4h06'11" @ 02'16"
7  Bellotti,Francesco C.A Credit Agricole 4h06'11" @ s/t
8  Serpa,José CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 4h06'11" @ s/t
9  Grajales,Cesar NIC Navigators Insurance 4h06'11" @ s/t
10 Pedraza,Walter CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 4h06'11" @ s/t
11 Le Boulanger,Yohann BTL Bouygues Telecom 4h06'13" @ 02'18"
12 Askari,Hossein GNT Giant-Asia 4h06'15" @ 02'20"
13  Poilvet,Benoit C.A Credit Agricole 4h06'17" @ 02'22"
14Sharman,Robin RCY Recyling.Co.Uk 4h06'17" @ s/t
15 Iannetti,Massimo LPR LPR 4h07'15" @ 03'20"
16 Walters,Mark NIC Navigators Insurance 4h07'17" @ 03'22"
17 Fukushima,Shinichi JPN Japan 4h07'19" @ 03'24"
18  Clancy,Edward GBR Great Britain 4h07'30" @ 03'35"
19 Loubet,Julien A2R Ag2r Prevoyance 4h08'27" @ 04'32"
20 Habeaux,Gregory LAN Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 4h08'27" @ s/t
21  Elias Galindo,Jose REG Relax-Gam 4h08'48" @ 04'53"
22 Matveyev,Sergiy PAN Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 4h09'32" @ 05'37"
23 Renders,Sven LAN Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 4h09'34" @ 05'39"
24 House,Kristian RCY Recyling.Co.Uk 4h09'39" @ 05'44"
25 Cox,Ryan RSA South Africa 4h09'46" @ 05'51"
26 Miyazawa,Takashi JPN Japan 4h11'00" @ 07'05"

GC After Stage 3
1   George,David RSA South Africa 9h47'06"
2   Missaglia,Gabriele CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 9h47'46" @ 40"
3   Grajales,Cesar NIC Navigators Insurance 9h49'28" @ 02'22"
4  Bellotti,Francesco C.A Credit Agricole 9h49'28" = s/t
5  Pedraza,Walter CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 9h49'28" = s/t
6  Lefevre,Laurent BTL Bouygues Telecom 9h49'28" = s/t
============
7  Poilvet,Benoit C.A Credit Agricole 9h49'33" @ 02'27"
8  Sharman,Robin RCY Recyling.Co.Uk 9h49'34" @ 02'28"
9    Walters,Mark NIC Navigators Insurance 9h50'33" @ 03'27"
===========
10  Elias Galindo,Jose REG Relax-Gam 9h52'05" @ 04'59"
11 Matveyev,Sergiy PAN Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 9h52'48" @ 05'42"
12 Cox,Ryan RSA South Africa 9h53'03" @ 05'57"
13 Miyazawa,Takashi JPN Japan 9h54'13" @ 07'07"
14 Raisin,Saul C.A Credit Agricole 9h54'28" @ 07'22"
15 Lill,Darren RSA South Africa 9h54'50" @ 07'44"
16 Garcia,Raul REG Relax-Gam 9h54'59" @ 07'53"
17 McCann,David GNT Giant-Asia 9h55'10" @ 08'04"
18 Serpa,José CLM Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 9h56'54" @ 09'48"
19 Askari,Hossein GNT Giant-Asia 9h56'58" @ 09'52"
20 Iannetti,Massimo LPR LPR 9h57'58" @ 10'52"
21  Fukushima,Shinichi JPN Japan 9h58'02" @ 10'56"
22  Clancy,Edward GBR Great Britain 9h58'13" @ 11'07"
23  Habeaux,Gregory LAN Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 9h59'10" @ 12'04"
24 Loubet,Julien A2R Ag2r Prevoyance 9h59'10" = s/t
25 Renders,Sven LAN Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 10h00'17" @ 13'11"

Team G.C.
1 Credit Agricole 29h33'40"
2 Selle Italia Diquigiovanni @ 31"
3 South Africa @ 01'30"
4 Recyling.Co.Uk @ 20'48"

Mountain Jersey
PL No. Name TM Pts
1 5     Lill,D RSA 35
2 3     George,D RSA 31
3 114 Clancy,E GBR 20
4 46   Raisin,S C.A 18
5 76   Walters,M NIC 12

 

Navigators Insurance Stage 2 Report
Tour of Langkawi: Stage 2 (2.HC)
Tanjung Malim-Sitiawan…Feb 4th…164.7 km
After the surprising shake up in yesterday's stage 1, the Tour de Langkawi got back to cycling fundamentals in today's stage 2, and the relatively flat, 165 km stage played out in text book fashion.

A stage that was set for the sprinter's, began with a bit of a lumpy opening, and over the first 20km, a steady series of attacks kept the pace high, and the leaders teams on guard. But when it became obvious that the major teams were not going to expose themselves to a repeat of the previous day, the pace settled, and an attack from one of the infamous aggressor brothers, Koji Fukushima, was matched by a Casino Filipino man, and the breakaway was on.
The tremendous heat and humidity that characterizes this race, and region, prompts early feeding from the car to keep the cyclists well hydrated, so when the allowable feeding began at 30km, the two leaders were given an opportunity to stretch their advantage.

Similar to stage one, the gap would soon grow to over 7'30", but unlike yesterday, this was a controlled and comfortable margin for the peloton. With about 70 km remaining, riders from South Africa, Sella Italia, and Navigators Insurance started rolling the pace in the field. Bouygues Telecom soon added some horsepower, and the gap slowly started to drop.
With 30 km reaming, the South Africans wee doing the largest share of the work, and the long drag into a moderate headwind was softening the two escapees. The gap was dropping fast, and a very controlled finish to the chase, had the leaders back in the fold with just under 10km to go.

Now it was game for the sprinter's team's to take over, and Wiesenhof Akud, and Great Britain battled at the front until a late push by Panaria gained control in the final km. A hectic, and twisty finishing stretched was marked for drama, and a clip of the fencing at 300meters set up a high-speed crash, as race leader Richeze found himself the last man in front of team-mate Ruben Bongiorno. The speedy duo made easy work of the finish as Navigators' Oleg Grishkin had to peel off the winning lead-out when the crash knocked him wide. Bongiorno made it two for two for Panaria as the peloton anticipates the first climbing stage in tomorrows' stage 3.
Courtesy Navigators Insurance Professional Cycling team