2013 Le Tour de langkawi

LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI 2013 - Stages 6 and 7.

Feb, 25: After seven stages Julian David Arredondo of Team Nippo retains a firm grip on the race leadership. After the race was shaken up in Arrendo's favour on stage 5's Genting super-test, the sprinters have been back in action. Stage 6 saw a last ditch solo attack by Blanco Pro Cycling's Thomas Leezer inside the final five kilometres to give his team there third win of the race. Following this on stage 7 Astana's Andrea Guardini was finally able to pull off a win after several near misses.

Stage 6 - KUANTAN, Tuesday - A solo push inside the final five kilometres from a group of 16 initial breakaway riders gave Blanco Pro Cycling's Thomas Leezer a deserved victory in Stage 6, Le Tour de Langkawi 2013's longest stage from Mentakab to Kuantan, a distance of 217.50 kms (135.25).

The win came in treacherous conditions brought on by torrential rain throughout the last 50 kilometres. Dutchman, Leezer, 27, broke away from a 16-man lead group to cross the finish line alone in 4 hours 33 minutes and 42 seconds.

He finished 27 seconds ahead of South Korea's Jung Ji Min of KSPO and 35 seconds ahead of Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) while another breakaway member Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli) barely managed to stay ahead of a surging peloton to win the bunch sprint for fourth place ahead of Astana's Andrea Guardini, the holder of the blue jersey for the points classification lead.

"I'm very happy with this win, especially for our team. We have been racing really well as we all need to prove ourselves as we lost our main sponsor (Rabobank) last year, so this drives the team forward," said Leezer. "I'm also relieved with this win. Actually I thought I was lucky to be here to start this race, but now I've shown that I can also be competitive."

While the race lead stayed Arredondo, Hengxiang's Wang Meiyin regained the mountain leader's jersey he lost on Genting after he won the category 4 mountains hot spot in Sungai Piul.

Tom Leezer solos to win: Photo © John Pierce

Torrential rain makes the going treacherous: © Le Tour de Langkawi

Stage 7 - DUNGUN, Wednesday. Guardini saw luck finally shift in his when he snatched victory after 149.80 kms (93.15 miles) of racing from Kuantan to Dungan. It came at the end of a frustrating week which saw him in second spot twice and third once in bunch sprint finishes, losing out to Theo Bos (Blanco Pro Cycling) and Francesco Chicchi (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia). This time Guardini beat Stage 4 winner Francesco Chicchi of his former team Vini Fantini-Selle Italia with Orica-GreenEdge's Aidis Kroupis in third.

This win brought Guardini's record of wins in LTdL to 12 and was also Astana's first victory of the year.

Andrea Guardini hits winning ways © Le Tour de Langkawi

"IT is difficult if I don't win something early in the season. But this year I had to familiarise myself with a new team and new teammates at Astana. I had entered the Tour Down Under and Tour of Qatar without the condition to challenge for wins, but here it was perfect," said Guardini.

"I'm relieved. The challenge is not that easy with so many strong sprinters here. But today, my teammates Assan Bazayev and Ruslan Tleubayev worked hard and rode very fast to find the space and position for me. In the final 500 metres, Tleubayev put me on the wheel of Aidis Kroupis and Allan Davis and I made a sprint from the left to overtake them. I also knew that Anuar Manan (Synergy-Baku Cycling Project) was getting closer to me in the points classification after he collected points at the intermediate sprints but I focused on the stage win only. I'm very happy with the victory and it goes well with the blue jersey."

General Classification after Stage 7 - 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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