Lionel Taminiaux (Alpecin-Deceuninck) emerged victorious on stage 5 of the Petronas Tour de Langkawi, leaping from the breakaway in pursuit of Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) before edging him out at the line in Kulim.
Carter Bettles (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) took third on the 172km inland stage from Kuala Kangsar, having almost linked onto the leading two.
He'd also attacked from the strong break of 11 that was stacked not with the usual line-up of national and Continental squads, but with a rider from every one of the six WorldTour teams.
"It was normal that it was the strong guys in the front because it was a hard race up till the breakaway," Taminiaux told reporters in Kulim.
The group clipped off the front after a fast start pushed into a solid pace on the category-2 climb at 62.5km into the stage. It went on the flat, after the descent, working together to hold off the closing peloton before the attacks started coming on the run into the line.
"At 3km to go, Van den Berg attacked and I managed to close the gap. I sprinted from far out. It was hard but I played it well I think," said Taminiaux.
"I like to do lead-out like yesterday for [stage 4 winner Jakub] Mareczko but I also like to take my chance. It doesn't happen often so I'm happy today."
The eight-stage Malaysian race, which went from the queen stage on Thursday to the flattest stage of the race so far on Friday, added one classified climb into the mix on Saturday as it continued to work its way up Peninsular Malaysia toward Langkawi. While the break stayed away, its composition meant there was no alteration to the top of the overall standings.
Ivan Sosa (Movistar) held on to his overall lead and the 23-second gap to his nearest rival Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost).
How it unfolded
Lining up at Kuala Kangsar, which has been home to Perak’s royal family since the 18th century, the expectation among many was that this would probably be another stage for the sprinters, given the only classified climb of the day peaked more than 100km from the finish. The second longest stage of the race, however, didn’t turn out that way.
The peloton flashed through the countryside and the villages tucked in among the tree covered hills and toward Lake Raban, with the breaks trying to get away, but the chase was as determined as the speed was high, with an average of 50.6km in the first half hour.
The first intermediate sprint came at 34.2, with Igor Chzhan (Astana-Qazaqstan) taking top points in an attempt to protect the slim lead of his teammate, Andrey Zeits, in the best Asian rider competition. He had a margin of just one second at the start of the stage but the runner-up spot was all Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Terengganu Polygon) needed and that is exactly what he got.
It was clear from the continued insistence of the peloton not to let a break go that they wanted to keep it all together for the category-2 Sumpitan climb at 62.5km into the racing. As the 7.6km climb with a gradient of 5.3 percent approached, the road narrowed and trees closed in with the thick vines tangled through them, at times creating what appeared to be an impenetrable roadside wall of green as the riders wound their way up to the top, where fans had long been waiting to cheer them on.
The yellow-clad race leader, Sosa, could be seen close to the front as the climb progressed, while many others slipped off the back, including stage 4 winner Jakub Mareczko (Alpecin Deceuninck) and stage 2 winner Craig Wiggins (ARA Pro racing Sunshine Coast) who had also been involved in a crash near the finish of stage 4.
Sainbayar was first to the top of the climb, putting him on equal KOM points with teammate Nur Aiman Zariff, but Zariff kept red on a countback. Sosa’s Movistar team moved to the front on the descent – a winding downhill opening up to dramatic views but railed road side drops also made it a descent to be handled with care.
The downhill and then flat run afterwards is when many of the riders who had been left behind on the climb started to rejoin, including Wiggins and Mareczko. It was also an opportunity to try and finally establish a break and it was one packed with 11 strong riders.
The break comprised Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates), Sander Armee and Hugo Toumire of Cofidis, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Soudal) Max Kanter and Mathias Jorgenson (Movistar), Gianni Moscon (Astana Qazaqstan) Lionel Taminiaux (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Julius van den Berg (EF Education EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos BH) and Carter Bettles (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) who had also been in the break on stage 1 and 3.
The break had pushed the time gap out to over one minute by the second intermediate sprint – with top points taken by Kanter – at the 101.9km mark. At one stage they pulled the gap out to beyond two minutes but while the WorldTour teams were well represented at the front, Continental teams UNO-X Pro Cycling and Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli, had missed out so were both working to pull back the gap.
It looked for a while like it could work with the gap dropping to 40 seconds at 20km to go and then down to 20 seconds at 7km to go, but they never could quite bring it right down.
At around 4km to go, Moscon started putting the pressure on in the lead group, then at 3km to go Van den Berg was away and then Taminiaux joined him, while at just under 1km to go Bettles nearly joined the pair but was dropped away by their acceleration toward the line.
After Taminiaux took victory from the lead group, his teammate Mareczko then took out the sprint from the peloton as it rolled over the line 38 seconds later.
Stage 5 may have been a day when the sprinters missed out, but they are likely to get their chance on stage 6 as there is not a single classified climb to be found on the 120.4km stage from George Town to Alor Setar.
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