Benjamin Dyball became the first Australian since inaugural winner Damian McDonald to bag the overall title after completing the final stage of the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi today with his lead intact.
Dyball, who took charge of the yellow jersey after winning Stage 4 in Genting Highlands on Tuesday, finished with a 50s lead over second placed Keegan Swirbul of Floyd’s Pro Cycling.
Italy’s Marco Benfatto gave Androni Giocattoli their third stage win of the race after edging St George Continental’s Blake Quick at the finish line, while Matteo Pelucchi, who ended Androni’s four-year LTdL victory drought by winning the fifth and sixth stages, finished third. Â
The 103.8km stage saw a seven-man breakaway kept within two minutes of the peloton, which was controlled by Dyball’s Team Sapura Cycling and with four kilometres to go the last bits of the breakaway were brought back for the front group to set up a bunch sprint.
The three-lap circuit also saw the peloton pass a category 3 king of the mountains hotspot three times and although this did not affect Oliver’s Real Food Racing’s Angus Lyons’ grip on the mountains classification, it saw the peloton being split into several groups.
“Everyday since winning in Genting, my teammates worked very hard in all stages, including today,” said Dyball, 29, who joined Sapura from Australian team St George’s this season.
“I am happy with my new team and I had a good feeling throughout the whole tour and it was nice to see the Sapura fan club at every stage.”
Vino Astana Motors’ Vadim Pronskiy completed his task of winning the Asian riders’ classification, despite a scare today when he suffered a puncture with 5km to go, but swiftly exchanged bikes with a teammate to avoid final-day drama and finished 24s ahead on Japan’s Nariyuki Masuda, with teammate Stepan Astafyev in third.
“I am happy with the Asian riders’ title. I have to thank the team for this. I hope to be invited again next year and go for the yellow jersey,” said Pronskiy.
Floyd’s Pro Cycling’s Travis McCabe finished fifth today to complete his victory in the points classification which heled after winning Stage 3 on Monday.
McCabe finished with 91 points, ahead of Pelucchi on 68 points, with Terengganu Inc-TSG’s Mohd Harrif Saleh third in the points classification with 62 points.
“I’ve had an excellent race. I won two stages in 2017, but this time I won a stage and took the points classification.This is a good sign of things to come for this new team,” said McCabe.
“LTdL this year has been beautiful but hard and I enjoyed it. Hope to be back again next year.”
Lyons had secured the mountains classification victory after Stage 7 yesterday and only had to finish the final stage to emerge as the king of the mountains with KSPO’s Kwon Soon Yeong in second spot with 27 points, while Dyball was third in the mountains classification with 25 points.
“We came here without any expectations and I am happy with the king of the mountains title. Every day was challenging, it was super hot and wet but I had a good race,” said Lyons, for whom this was also the first jersey win of his career.
American outfit Floyd’s Pro Cycling won the overall teams’ classification with a combined time that was 1 minute and 8 second ahead of Malaysia’s Team Sapura Cycling, while Kazakhstan’s Vino Astana Motors finished third with a 4 minutes and 59 seconds deficit on the winners.
Vino Astana Motors also won the Asian teams’ classification with a massive 25 minutes and 59 seconds lead over second placed Malaysian national team, while third placed Japan finished with a 29 minutes and 42 seconds deficit on the winners.
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