Ryan Gibbons made it through stage 7 of the Tour de Langkawi unscathed and with an increased margin in his bid for overall victory. However, it was the most stressful day yet for the 22-year-old Dimension Data rider who is starting to feel the strain of a week's racing in Malaysia.
"Not just with the riders going into the break and the aggression from the whole peloton, but also the weather and being at the final and quite a steep downhill in the final and then a corner with 500 metres to go," Gibbons told Cyclingnews of the stress levels after finishing fifth in Rembau.
It wasn't all plain sailing for Gibbons, though, as he conceded the lead in the points classification to Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Trestina), who took out the win in the pouring rain.
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"I'll fight to get it back tomorrow, but I think it is on good shoulders," said Gibbons, who was far more relieved to have kept the yellow jersey ahead of Cam Bayly (IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness).
The stage was also complicated by the fact that Jacopa Mosca (Wilier Trestina) had infiltrated the day's breakaway following a chaotic opening 50km and was the virtual leader of the race. However, the first year neo-pro placed his trust in his teammates to control the race, which they did with aplomb as he described.
"It was a bit stressful, so that is why we made sure the gap never got more than 1:45," he said of the breakaway's danger. "I think at one point it might have gone to two minutes, but then we quickly got it back down to one minute and a half. We were aware of it all times and making sure that it didn't go anywhere.
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