KULAI: Italian Manuele Tarozzi claimed a thrilling breakaway victory in the sixth stage of Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) which started in Batu Pahat and ended in Kulai today.
The VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane rider outkicked fellow breakaway group rider Stefan de Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) to win in two hours, 28 minutes and 58 seconds.
Tudor Pro Cycling's sprinter Arvid de Kleijn, who arrived with the peloton nine seconds later, crossed the line third.
Team Corratec-Vini Fantini's Valentin Darbellay, de Bod, Tarozzi as well as the latter's teammate Davide Gaburro attacked roughly 25 kilometres into the 123.4km stage.
The quartet were at one point were over two minutes ahead of the peloton before the sprinters teams began reeling them in.
Gaburro was dropped from the breakaway group roughly 8km from the finish and the gap to the remaining trio was less than 30 seconds going into the final 2km. Darbellay found himself swallowed by the peloton but was still awarded the Most Combative Rider award for the day.
Malaysia Pro Cycling's Ahmad Syazrin Awang Illah, who crossed the line 23rd in the same group as de Kleijn, was the highest placed Malaysian finisher on the day.
Tarozzi, 26, was elated to take the win after finishing a disappointing 38th during the third stage climb up to Cameron Highlands earlier this week.
Going into the stage, Tarozzi was over three minutes off the pace in the general classification (GC) and thus was not a real threat in the green jersey competition.
"I came here (Malaysia) to try for the GC but I did not have a good day in Cameron Highlands. Today I went for the breakaway to at least get some good result here," said Tarozzi during the post race presser.
"I felt confident because I had Gaburro with me in the breakaway as well as de Bod, who is a very strong man.
"De Bod tried to attack in the last KM and I just followed him. When we reached the 300m mark I sprinted and was able to win."
De Kleijn, who won the fourth and fifth stage bunch sprints moved into the orange jersey (sprinters classification) thanks to his third place finish though did not look pleased during the press conference.
The Dutchman was the overall winner in the sprinters classification last year.
"I am mostly disappointed (to finish third in stage), as a sprinter you always want to sprint for the victory. But still, the team did a good job to pull (peloton) for the whole day together with DSM-Firmenich PostNL," said de Kleijn at the same press conference.
"Taking the orange jersey is the only positive thing to take with us into the next stage. We still have two more opportunities left in the tour.
"I have never been there (Sarawak) before and I am curious about how it will be."
De Kleijn leads the sprinters classification with 54 points, four more than JCL Team Ukyo's Matteo Malucelli who is second.
DSM's Max Poole remains in charge of the green jersey (general classification) with a 14 second advantage over JCL Team Ukyo's Thomas Pesenti who is second.
LTdL now heads to Sarawak for the seventh stage which will begin in Miri and end in Bintulu, covering a total distance of 199.3km - the longest in the tour this year.
There will be three intermediate sprints at Suai, Nyalau and Kidurong as well as one category four climb in Bintulu.
RESULTS AFTER STAGE SIX
Stage six: 1. Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) 2:28:58s 2. Stefan de Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) same time 3. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) +9s 4. Manuel Penalver (Team Polti Kometa) 5. Casper van Uden (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) - same time.
General classification (green jersey): 1. Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) 19:02:03s 2. Thomas Pesenti (JCL Team Ukyo) +14s 3. Unai Iribar (Equipo Kern Pharma) +20s 4. Fernando Tercero (Team Polti Kometa) 5. Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma)--same time
Climbers classification (polka dot jersey): 1 Mario Aparicio (Burgos-BH) 27pts 2. Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) 22 pts 3. Anthon Charmig (Astana Qazaqstan) 12 pts
Sprinters classification (orange jersey): 1. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) 54 pts 2. Matteo Malucelli (JCL Team Ukyo) 50 pts 3. Manuel Penalver (Team Polti Kometa) 42pts
Asian riders classification: 1. Manabu Ishibashi (JCL Team Ukyo) 19:04:21s 2. Yuma Koishi (JCL Team Ukyo) +2:41s 3. Keigo Kusaba (Aisan Racing Team) 2:45s