Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Pro Cycling) sprinted to his first professional victory on stage 6 of the Petronas Tour de Langkawi in in Alor Setar, hitting the front of the rain soaked stage with 150m to go and managing to hold off the charge behind.
Stage one winner Gleb Syritsa (Astana-Qazaqstan) took second while it was third for Rüdiger Selig (Lotto Soudal) in the 120.4km stage which started off in George Town on the island of Penang
The early break had gone before the riders had even crossed back to Peninsular Malaysia via the Penang Bridge but it was swept up at 9km to go and then the teams of the sprinters started to get organised for the long straight run into the finish line, where Blikra turned his second place of stage 1 into the victory he had been desperately searching for.
“I’ve been trying every day now and to finally succeed it feels amazing,” Blikra said in the broadcast post race interview. “Today we forget all about yesterday, today we celebrate and we are just really happy.”
The race now heads off to Langkawi for the final two days with Ivan Sosa (Movistar) in the yellow jersey of the race leader. The Colombian stepped into the overall lead after winning on the steep climbs of the Genting Highlands. His nearest rival is Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) at 23 seconds back.
More to follow …
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