KUALA LUMPUR: The first leg of the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) saw a Russian rider rushing across the finish line today.
Gleb Syritsa of the Astana Qazaqstan team won the LTdL's opening stage after timing his sprint to perfection.
He clocked three hours, 43 minutes and 33 seconds for a hard-earned win. Uno-X Pro Cycling Team's Erlend Blikra and Movistar Team's Max Kanter came in second and third.
The 157.3km stage, which started in Kuala Pilah and ended in front of the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, saw plenty of action early on.
A group of nine riders went off early in search of points with five categorised climbs and three intermediate sprints being contested on the day.
Astana and Ef Education-Easypost, however, led the efforts to reel them back, and the peloton found themselves back together with 10km remaining.
Syritsa said he was grateful to take the win after a gruelling day of racing.
"I am so happy to win my first stage on the tour, I want to thank the team, staff and my family for their support," he said.
"It was a tough stage for me with all the climbs but I glad I was able to do well in the end."
Syritsa thus took charge of the yellow jersey (general classification) on 3:43:33s as well as the green jersey (sprinters classification) with 15 points.
Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team's (TSG) Jambaljamts Sainbayar did well to win two intermediate sprints at Rembau and Senawang as well as two categorised climbs at Senaling and Tekali.
He got to wear the red jersey (climbers classification) with 15 points to his name and white (Asian classification) on 3:43:37s. The Mongolian is also third in the GC standings.