Manan scores hat trick in Malaysia

At the end of stage five in Karak, the LeTua Continental Team rider Anuar Manan scored a hat trick and became the first local rider to earn three wins in the Jelajah Malaysia, which kicked off Monday.

The achievements of the rider from Kuala Ibai, Terengganu, tied the record of Indonesian rider Samai Amari from the Team Wismilak. He won three stages in the 2003 edition of the race, when it was ranked as a 2.6 category event.

The 22 year-old Anuar finished the 133.7km stage five race from Gemas to Karak in three hours and 54 seconds. His win also breaks his own personal record of two stages for the event.

"I'm really happy as I managed to break my record of winning two stages in last year's Jelajah Malaysia. My sincere thanks to my team which has helped me a lot to gain more points as early as the first sprint zone."

"Today's winding road didn't stop me from being in the front group. Moreover it was an advantage for me to win today's race," said Anuar, who has been quite comfortably wearing the blue jersey designating him as sprint leader.

In the race today, Anuar managed to add another 10 points at the sprint zones in Pasir Besar and Bahau to accumulate a total of 29 points. Suhardi Hassan sits in second with 15 points,

Manan's team-mate Tonton Susanto had a scare today when in the final kilometer, a group of riders in front of him crashed. Fortunately for him and his team, Susanto was able to swerve and avoid the crash and thereby retain his red leader's jersey for best overall rider.

The Jelajah Mayalsia wraps up Sunday after 1,004 km. See full coverage of stage five.