Tour of Langkawi Race Recap

Here is an update on Stages 4 and 5 straight from Jonas. Expect more from Jonas and Jake as the season wears on.

Yesterday was a 165km stage from Mersing to Parit Sulong. We were hoping to win a stage in a field sprint as Cando had finished 2nd on stage 3. The stage was relatively controlled and uneventful. In the sprint, Zwizanski hit the front with 1km to go, followed by Bell and Cando. Unfortunately, as they entered the final stretch, there was an overpass with about 300 meters to go that was not on the profile. With a roller just before the finish, the worst thing you can do is go from the front. Our guys were swarmed on the roller and did not get a result. That's the nature of point to point stages where you don't know the finish...sometimes you make mistakes.

Today was a shorter stage at only 111km, from Muar to Port Dixon. Again, we expected a field sprint and planned to continue to work on our leadout. About 5k into the race a 14 man break rolled with Zwizanski in it. The break worked well together and gained over 1 minute quickly. ISD was not happy and put their team on the front. Right about then, Bell crashed into some unmarked pylons in the road. Dan was also tangled up in that wreck, and we had to do a double bike change. We ended up with two riders outside of the caravan, several minutes down, and chasing hard. With the ISD chasing at 55kph to bring back a very dangerous 14 man break, our guys were in danger of never returning to field. To complicate matters, once they made it back to the enormous caravan, they repeatedly came across 100-200 yard gaps in the caravan. In the end, they made it back after 40k of chasing! We expect to incur some hefty fines tonight.

Anyway, in the end it came down to a sprint. Again our team charged to the front with 1k to go led by Zwizanski and Shirley. With Zach hurting from three crashes this week and a 40km chase earlier in the day, we didn't quite have the gas to get Cando as far as he needed. Cando jumped early and led until around 50 meters to go, when he was passed by four guys. He ended up fifth on the day.

The good news is that our guys didn't get hurt in the crash. Also, although we have not been able to win a stage, every day our leadout has been able to blow past everyone to take the lead inside the final kilometer. The guys are getting some valuable practice and it will pay off at some point. Maybe Sunday will be our day to put it all together.

Jonas