Savio clocks another milestone in Malaysia

By Greg Johnson in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Diquigiovanni-Androni has become the first squad to win four editions of the Tour de Langkawi, following José Serpa's general classification win yesterday. The squad had been tied on three overall victories with Mapei until yesterday's victory.

"I'm very, very happy," said team manager Gianni Savio. "We prepared very well for this race. I like, very much, the Tour de Langkawi and I like Malaysia.

"This is the ninth year I've been here, and always I come back to Malaysia with enthusiasm, with passion," Savio added. "Malaysia is similar to South America, to Venezuela. I am very well and for this reason we prepared very well for this race in Argentina."

Serpa also claimed the event's King of the Mountains jersey, having won the race's queen stage to Genting Highlands on Friday. Team sprinter Mattia Gavazzi secured the points jersey for Savio's squad, on top of four stage victories.

"I didn't expect all this success, because I would be happy to win overall classification and also team classification, if possible," he said. "Two stage wins would have been good, but we won five."

Diquigiovanni-Androni also won the team's classification at this year's event.

Savio's squad first won the event overall in 2002 with Hernan Dario Munoz and again in 2004 with Freddy Gonzalez. Its most recent overall victory came at last year's event, where Ruslan Ivanov took victory.