Matteo Malucelli reasserts Le Tour de Langkawi sprint power with stage 1 victory in photo finish ahead of Riley Pickrell

The tightest of sprints between Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) and Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure) at Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 stage 1 (Image credit: Le Tour de Langkawi)

Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) sprinted to victory in Kampar to claim the first stage of the 30th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi and reassert his sprint supremacy at a race where he claimed three wins last year.

Malucelli, who crashed the day ahead of the race and was nursing banged-up hands, charged through the finish line in the Perak township with a tin mining past and forested hilly backdrop ahead of Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure). It was the tightest of battles for the win, with Pickrell going early and Malucelli only just closing the gap. Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) claimed third.

It was a win that was hard-earned not just because he had to chase Pickrell down. The crash on Saturday had left Malucelli getting x-rays on his hand and receiving treatment, plus his team was left doing much of the work to make sure it came to a sprint given the mark they made on the race last year, with three victories from Malucelli and then, after the Italian crashed out on stage 6, Aaron Gate also stepped up to secure another on stage 8.

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After that, the waves of attacks continued, ultimately with Aiman Rosli (Terengganu), Javier Ibanez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA), Pablo Carrascosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) and Liam Cuthbertson (St George Continental Cycling) forming a group of five out the front. Ibanez took the first intermediate sprint at 29km, and from the ever-shrinking lead group it was then Rosli that took the second at 48.2km

The riders continued to drop until it was just Ibanez and Stepanov out front for the third intermediate sprint at Teluk Intan at 149.8km into the day of racing. The top points went to Ibanez once again, and then they sat up and rejoined the XDS-Astana-led peloton, which was wearing the responsibility of making sure the day ended with a bunch sprint. It wasn't, however, all sewn up, as Ibanez and Stepanov were caught by a late attack from last year's stage 7 winner Zeb Kyffin (Terengganu), who was only pulled back within 2km of the line.

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Stage 1 results
Pos	Rider	Time
1	Matteo Malucelli (Ita) XDS Astana	4:06:53
2	Riley Pickrell (Can) Modern Adventure	4:06:53
3	Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
4	Ronan Auge (Fra) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:06:53
5	Iker Villar Galdeano (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
6	Rodrigo Alvarez Rodriguez (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
7	Hijiri Oda (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:06:53
8	Gleb Syritsa (Rus) XDS Astana	4:06:53
9	Seppe van den Boer (Bel) Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23	4:06:53
10	Filippo Cettolin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
11	Nicola Marcerou (Fra) Totalenergies	4:06:53
12	Mikel Retegi Goñi (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
13	Dillon Corkery (Irl) Picnic PostNL	4:06:53
14	Petr Rikunov (Rus) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
15	Mohamad Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil (Mas) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:06:53
16	Roy Hoogendoorn (Ned) Metec - Solarwatt P/B Mantel	4:06:53
17	Daniel Cavia Sanz (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
18	Muhamad Iqbal Daniel Mohd Nawawi (Mas) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:06:53
19	Aphisit Supan (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
20	Mathis le Berre (Fra) Totalenergies	4:06:53
21	Iderbold Bold (Mgl) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
22	Nicolas Breuillard (Fra) Totalenergies	4:06:53
23	Christiaan van Rees (Ned) Development Team Picnic Postnl	4:06:53
24	Ade Meisa (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:06:53
25	Santiago Ferraro (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
26	George Matsui (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:06:53
27	Lennart Jasch (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling	4:06:53
28	Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
29	Antoine Huby (Fra) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:06:53
30	Jihwan Park (Kor) Kspo	4:06:53
31	Yen Yi 何 Ho 彥誼 (Tpe) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
32	Mervin Corpuz (Phi) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:06:53
33	Jian Le Chan (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
34	Rohan Haydon-Smith (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
35	Valentin Retailleau (Fra) Totalenergies	4:06:53
36	Jan Castellon Ribalta (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
37	Muhammad Adam Hakimi Nazuan (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
38	Alan Jousseaume (Fra) Totalenergies	4:06:53
39	Petr Kelemen (Cze) Tudor Pro Cycling	4:06:53
40	Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
41	Jorge Gutierrez Gonzalez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
42	Scott Mcgill (USA) Modern Adventure	4:06:53
43	Martin Santiago Herreño Polania (Col) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
44	Yuhi Todome (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:06:53
45	Ronnilan Quita (Phi) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:06:53
46	Muh Imam Arifin (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:06:53
47	Muhammad Adam Danish Afdzal (Mas) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:06:53
48	Andrei Stepanov (Rus) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
49	Taehyeong Kim (Kor) Kspo	4:06:53
50	Hwanhui Je (Kor) Kspo	4:06:53
51	Mattia Stenico (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
52	Yongjoo Kim (Kor) Kspo	4:06:53
53	Liam Cuthbertson (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
54	Mathias Bregnhøj (Den) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
55	Lindon Milostic (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
56	Robin Carpenter (USA) Modern Adventure	4:06:53
57	Javier Ibañez Beltran de Salazar (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
58	Abel Balderstone Roumens (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
59	Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling	4:06:53
60	Stefan de Bod (RSA) Modern Adventure	4:06:53
61	Nil Gimeno Ferrer (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
62	Ilham Dzikri Ramadhan (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:06:53
63	Ibai Azanza Burusco (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
64	Edward Santiago Cruz Martinez (Col) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber	4:06:53
65	Ren Han Tsen (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
66	Julen Arriola-Bengoa Beitia (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:06:53
67	Matthew Peace (GBr) Development Team Picnic Postnl	4:06:53
68	Juan Martinez Huertas (Col) Picnic PostNL	4:06:53
69	Pablo Carrascosa Miller (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma	4:06:53
70	Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
71	Daniel Whitehouse (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
72	Cedrik Bakke Christophersen (Nor) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:06:53
73	Erickson Lopez (Phi) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:06:53
74	Kieran Haug (USA) Modern Adventure	4:06:53
75	Junqi Shao (Chn) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
76	Harold Martin Lopez Granizo (Ecu) XDS Astana	4:06:53
77	Thanakhan Chaiyasombat (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
78	Ren Bao Tsen (Mas) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
79	Josh Burnett (NZl) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
80	Muhammad Syawal Mazlin (Mas) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:06:53
81	Peerapol Chawchiangkwang (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:06:53
82	Zeb Kyffin (GBr) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
83	Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
84	Muhammad Ridwan (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:06:53
85	Adne Willemjan van Engelen (Ned) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
86	Mario Aparicio Muñoz (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
87	Chaoyi Li (Chn) Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team	4:06:53
88	Mattia Gaffuri (Ita) Picnic PostNL	4:06:53
89	Robin Donzé (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling	4:06:53
90	Owen Geleijn (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:06:53
91	Zhe Yie Kee (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
92	Astnan Maulana (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:06:53
93	Aivaras Mikutis (Ltu) Tudor Pro Cycling	4:06:53
94	Sergio Meris (Ita) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:06:53
95	Kazuto Minami (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:06:53
96	Eivind Broholt Fougner (Nor) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:06:53
97	Byeonghoon Shin (Kor) Kspo	4:06:53
98	Rui Udagawa (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:06:53
99	Muhammad Yusri Shaari (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
100	Bradley Perkins (GBr) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:06:53
101	Muhammad Zawawi Azman (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
102	Mohamad Nur Aiman Mohd Zariff (Mas) Terengganu Cycling Team	4:06:53
103	Cormac Mcgeough Breffni (Irl) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:06:53
104	Tomoya Koyama (Jpn) Burgos Burpellet BH	4:06:53
105	Lev Gonov (Rus) XDS Astana	4:06:53
106	Rory Townsend (Irl) Unibet Rose Rockets	4:07:12
107	Muhamad Herlangga (Ina) Nusantara Cycling Team	4:07:29
108	Muhammad Zahin Wahhi (Mas) Malaysia	4:06:53
109	Muhammad Iqmal Mohd Zarawi (Mas) Malaysia Pro Cycling	4:07:38
110	Aaron Gate (NZl) XDS Astana	4:07:43
111	Jack Lightfoot (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team	4:07:50
112	Thanachat Yatan (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:07:50
113	Alessio Delle Vedove (Ita) Xds Astana Development Team	4:07:50
114	Jaypee Olarte (Phi) 7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines	4:07:56
115	Tullatorn Sosalam (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:08:10
116	Taejun Park (Kor) Kspo	4:09:31
117	Noppachai Klahan (Tha) Thailand Continental Cycling Team	4:09:31
118	Keito Kamiya (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team	4:10:03
DNF	Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) Totalenergies	Row 118 - Cell 2

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.