Tour de Langkawi 2015 Stage 7

photo credit @ Tour De Langkawi 

excerpts from Tour de Langkawi 

MTN-Qhubeka’s Youcef Reguigui sprinted to the line to take the biggest win of his career when he won the queen stage of the 20th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL), a gruelling 180.8km stage from Shah Alam to Frasers Hill today.

The victory also gave the 25-year old Reguigui the overall lead which he is likely to keep in the final stage tomorrow and emerge the third African rider to win LTdL’s covered overall title after South Africans Ryan Cox in 2005 and David George in 2006.

Reguigui formed part of an 11-man breakaway that started with 25km to go and went all the way to the finish line where the Algerian outsprinted Colombia’s Sebastian Henao of Team Sky to the finish. Astana’s Valerio Agnoli took third place.

“I am very happy with this win, especially since I had a son one month ago, so I dedicate this win to him,” said Reguigui.

“This was a tough stage, especially when you do the climb after 180 kilometres. With 25km to go, I was lucky to be in front with that group and I had two teammates – Natnael Berhane and Jacques Janse van Rensburg with me, so I knew we had a good chance,” said Reguigui.

“We were lookingh to Berhane, because he is the climber. But with eight km to go I saw that he didn’t have the legs for this, so I decided to go for it myself. I am normally a sprinter, but I can climb a little bit and today I was feeling good, so I am very proud to have delivered this win.

“I hope this form will put me on the right track to the Tour de France. Because we are the first African team to ride in the Tour de France this year.”

Orica GreenEdge’s Caleb Ewan, who led the general classification before today, lost the overall lead but retained the blue jersey for the points classification.

“I knew it was going to be tough to keep the yellow jersey today, but I gave it my best shot and in the end I just didn’t have the legs for this. But overall, it has already been a good tour for me. My first pro race outside of Australia and I have two stage wins. Tomorrow we will maybe try for another win,” said Ewan, 21.

The red jersey for the mountains classification leader was a done deal today with United Healthcare’s Kiel Reijnen holding on to a comfortable 19 points lead ahead of Reguigui, which will now be insurmountable as there will only be one category 4 climb remaining in the final stage.

Aisan Racing Team’s Tomohiro Hayakawa swept the Asian riders classification lead away from Giant-Champion System’s Zhang Wen Long after he finished 16th and he now holds a 1:03s lead over second placed Liu Jianpeng of Hengxiang Cycling Team, which is unlikely to be affected.

LTdL’s 20th edition will end tomorrow with a 96.6km Stage 8 that starts in Kuala Kubu Bharu before entering a procession of six laps in a circuit around the Kuala Lumpur city center.

Top 25 Finishers

1 65 ALG Reguigui,Youcef MTN MTN – Qhubeka 4h38’41″
2 15 COL Henao Gomez,Sebastian SKY Team Sky 4h38’41″
3 3 ITA Agnoli,Valerio AST Astana Pro Team 4h38’41″
4 104 ITA Chirico,Luca BAR Bardiani CSF 4h38’41″
5 191 ESP Mancebo,Francisco SKD Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 4h38’41″
6 26 NED Weening,Pieter OGE Orica Greenedge 4h38’41″
7 66 RSA J. Van Rensburg,Jacques MTN MTN – Qhubeka 4h38’41″
8 46 COL Torres Agudelo,Rodolfo A COL Colombia 4h38’41″
9 32 DEN Hansen,Jesper TCS Tinkoff – Saxo 4h38’41″
10 96 FRA Perichon,Pierre-Luc BSE Bretagne-Seche Environnement 4h38’41″
11 11 USA Boswell,Ian SKY Team Sky 4h38’47″ @06″
12 42 COL Duque,Leonardo Fabio COL Colombia 4h39’20″ @39″
13 31 COL Beltran Suarez,Edward A TCS Tinkoff – Saxo 4h39’25″ @44″
14 62 ERI Berhane,Natnael MTN MTN – Qhubeka 4h39’35″ @54″
15 94 FRA Brun,Frederic BSE Bretagne-Seche Environnement 4h40’12″ @01’31″
16 125 JPN Hayakawa,Tomohiro AIS Aisan Racing Team 4h40’12″ @ s/t
17 76 USA Euser,Lucas UHC UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling 4h40’20″ @01’39″
18 55 CZE Padour,Frantisek AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 4h40’25″ @01’44″
19 161 BEL Seeldraeyers,Kevin TRK Torku Sekerspor 4h40’43″ @02’02″
20 162 POL Marczynski,Tomazs TRK Torku Sekerspor 4h40’43″ @ s/t
21 54 VEN Galviz,Carlos AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 4h41’00″ @02’19″
22 133 CHN Liu,Jianpeng HEN Hengxiang Cycling Team 4h41’20″ @02’39″
23 193 TUN Chtioui,Rafaa SKD Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 4h41’23″ @02’42″
24 126 JPN Nakane,Hideto AIS Aisan Racing Team 4h41’28″ @02’47″
25 53 ITA Frapporti,Marco AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 4h41’32″ @02’51

General Classification

1 65 ALG Reguigui,Youcef MTN MTN – Qhubeka 26h11’37″
2 15 COL Henao Gomez,Sebastian SKY Team Sky 26h11’47″ @10″
3 96 FRA Perichon,Pierre-Luc BSE Bretagne-Seche Environnement 26h11’47″ = s/t
4 191 ESP Mancebo,Francisco SKD Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 26h11’47″ = s/t
5 3 ITA Agnoli,Valerio AST Astana Pro Team 26h11’49″ @12″
6 104 ITA Chirico,Luca BAR Bardiani CSF 26h11’53″ @16″
7 32 DEN Hansen,Jesper TCS Tinkoff – Saxo 26h11’53″ = s/t
8 46 COL Torres Agudelo,Rodolfo A COL Colombia 26h11’53″ = s/t
9 66 RSA J. Van Rensburg,Jacques MTN MTN – Qhubeka 26h11’53″ = s/t
10 11 USA Boswell,Ian SKY Team Sky 26h11’59″ @22″
11 26 NED Weening,Pieter OGE Orica Greenedge 26h12’05″ @28″
12 42 COL Duque,Leonardo Fabio COL Colombia 26h12’28″ @51″
13 31 COL Beltran Suarez,Edward A TCS Tinkoff – Saxo 26h12’37″ @01’00″
14 62 ERI Berhane,Natnael MTN MTN – Qhubeka 26h12’38″ @01’01″
15 94 FRA Brun,Frederic BSE Bretagne-Seche Environnement 26h13’21″ @01’44″
16 125 JPN Hayakawa,Tomohiro AIS Aisan Racing Team 26h13’24″ @01’47″
17 76 USA Euser,Lucas UHC UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling 26h13’32″ @01’55″
18 55 CZE Padour,Frantisek AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 26h13’37″ @02’00″
19 162 POL Marczynski,Tomazs TRK Torku Sekerspor 26h13’55″ @02’18″
20 161 BEL Seeldraeyers,Kevin TRK Torku Sekerspor 26h13’55″ = s/t
21 54 VEN Galviz,Carlos AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 26h14’12″ @02’35″
22 133 CHN Liu,Jianpeng HEN Hengxiang Cycling Team 26h14’30″ @02’53″
23 193 TUN Chtioui,Rafaa SKD Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team 26h14’35″ @02’58″
24 53 ITA Frapporti,Marco AND Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela 26h14’44″ @03’07″
25 153 INA Suryadi,Dadi PCT Pegasus Continental Cycling 26h15’02″ @03’25″