Andrea Palini of Skydive Dubai outsprinted race leader Andrea Guardini on the finishing line of stage 2 of the Tour de Langkawi in Georgetown. China’s Wang Meiyin missed out on taking the yellow jersey due to a split in the peloton after another breakaway that saw him accumulating points for the King of the Mountains competition he targets and the points classification he now leads.
Stage 2 of the 21st edition will remain a memorable one in the history of Le Tour de Langkawi as the race returned to the island of Penang via the 24km long second bridge with the 5km long Teluk Bahang hill located 30km before the end.
“This is one of my most beautiful victories,” Palini told Cyclingnews after the finish. “I’ve beaten the most explosive sprinter in the world at this time of the year. [Marcel] Kittel has an impressive power for winning sprints from far out but talking about pure speed, Guardini is the best. I’m delighted to beat him today, also because he was on my wheel, so we’ve played with equal chances to win the stage.”
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After 22 kilometres of racing, Wang found the way to escape for the second day in a row along with Loh Sea Keong (Malaysia national team), Sofian Nabil (NSC), Gong Hyo Suk (KSPO) and Jamilidin Navardianto (Pegasus).They got a maximum advantage of 4.15 at km 50. As Wang won all three intermediate sprints, he collected nine seconds of time bonus, which put him in a virtual position of race leader with the perspective of taking the yellow jersey, shall Guardini not be the stage winner.
Astana pulled the bunch but didn’t catch the remaining three breakaway riders, Wang, Loh and Nabil, before the summit of Teluk Bahang with 30km to go. In the end, it all came together 11km before the end of the race. All elements that make a good bike race were combined in one day as the wind played a key role in the finale after the climbs and the Penang bridge in a very spectacular environment.
Loh described it as “the most valuable stage I’ve experienced in ten years of taking part in Le Tour de Langkawi. Riding into Penang was incredibly spectacular, so was the run into the finish when we came down to the coast from the last hill. It was a challenging route. I was thrilled to be part of the breakaway until very close to the finish.”
— Le Tour de Langkawi (@myltdl) February 25, 2016
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