Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) claimed the win at the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi on stage 2 to Kepala Batas, taking his first victory of an injury-complicated season with a perfectly played effort in the sprint.
To take the stage victory, he topped his regular rival in Malaysia and stage 1 winner Matteo Maluceli (XDS Astana), who nevertheless held onto the overall lead. In third place, it was Enrico Zanoncello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF Faizane).
How it unfolded
The race moved from Langkawi and onto the Malay Peninsula on Monday, starting at Padang Besar, which is about as far north as you can go without crossing the border to Thailand. It was a wet beginning for the race, which set off from a shopping centre, and into a 166.1km flat stage, which worked its way south via a route that ran parallel to the coast.
The rain didn’t completely give up, but eased a little and through the towns along the way, with spectators braving the conditions and convening early to watch the passing parade. Plenty were gathered on the side of the roads in urban areas, with the children from the school along the route enjoying being out of the classroom to watch the spectacle, and through the countryside, where rice fields stretched off into the distance and dwellings were sparse, families were set up outside their houses.
The riders gave them a show, with plenty of attacks along the way, with Nate Hadden (St George), who was in the break yesterday, among those attempts. “Trying to get up the road is the main goal for me,” Hadden told Cyclingnews before the stage. “Obviously, there are some pretty fast guys here and some pretty big teams so at the end of the day…
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