John Murphy (UnitedHealthcare) was justifiably thrilled after he won stage three of the Tour de Langkawi on Friday, but of interest was the sight of Italian Andrea Guardini (Astana) smiling as he sat next to the American after again falling short of a second win.
It is rare that a sprinter who has lost a bunch sprint once – let alone twice and on consecutive days - is as calm and relaxed as Guardini was after Friday’s 107km stage from Kulim to Kuala Kangsar.
After all, Guardini came into the Malaysian race as the sprinter to beat in the eight-stage tour that finishes Wednesday. And he showed why by winning stage one and extend his career tally of stage wins in the event to 19. But then he placed second on stage two behind fellow Italian Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai) and fifth on Friday.
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Murphy, who won the fourth stage of the recent Herald Sun Tour of Victoria in Australia, took out Friday’s stage with a superb sprint, leaving behind him the Italian pair of Francesco Chicchi (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Jakub Mareczko (Southeast-Venezuela) in second and third places respectively.
In fourth was Slovakian Michael Kolar (Tinkoff), followed by Guardini in fifth.
“The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling team was phenomenal today,” said Murphy after the podium presentation as he sat to Guardini’s left.
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