Thinking ‘a bit outside the box’ – From domination to deliberation as XDS-Astana tackles unwelcome plot twists at Le Tour de Langkawi

Two days ago XDS-Astana were undoubtedly in pole position as Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi headed toward the queen stage. They were flying high with three impressive stage wins from Matteo Malucelli, after just four stages.

They also had high hopes for GC card Aaron Gate as he seemed to have set himself up perfectly on the rankings by snaffling a bunch of bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints to ease his path.