At the end of a dramatic five hours of racing, Manuel Belletti (Androni) held off his breakaway companion for stage 7 victory at the Tour de Langkawi. The Italian beat Eugert Zhupa (Wilier) and Ruslan Tleubayev (Astana) in the eight-rider sprint at Muar.
Artem Ovechkin (Terengganu) was facing the possibility of losing his race lead after a dramatic opening 100km of racing but recovered his early deficit to arrive in the peloton 1:28 minutes after the breakaway. With one stage to come, he now leads Lukasz Owsian (CCC) with the Pole jumping into second place from 18th via the breakaway.
Ben Dyball (St George) lost his second place overall but holds his podium position as the top-ten was reshuffled. Giuseppe Fonzi (Wilier) and Brendon Davids (Bennelong SwissWellness) also making a major leap up the standings as the breakaway got the better of the peloton for the second time this week.
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"For me, it is a big relief to win today after two years, especially after last year when my season was ruined by a salmonella virus," said Belletti off his first win since re-joining Androni. "This year I started in Argentina at the Vuelta San Juan with a great condition but on stage 3 there was a crash and I broke my collarbone and three ribs. To come back from that crash and winning today is a big relief. I hope to continue this way starting from tomorrow when I try to win again."
Belletti, a Giro d'Italia stage winner, rejoined Androni in 2018 ten years after he started as a professional with Gianni Savio's Pro-Continental team.
With just under one minute separating second place to 15th on GC, the final stage of the Tour de Langkawi from Rembau to Kuala Lumpur is expected to be another explosive final. However, overall victory for Ovechkin looks but all assured after he his Terengganu team weathered the storm of stage 7 and are set to make history for Malaysian cycling with the victory. A first for a Malaysian team in the 23 editions of the race.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/le-tour-de-langkawi-2018/stage-7/results
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