photo credits @ Tour de Langkawi
United HealthCare’s John Murphy fended off any rivals during today’s Tour de Langkawi, to claim stage 3 in a sprint finish ahead of Francesco Chicchi, Jakub Mareczko and Andrea Guardini.
Race Highlights
A small breakaway group containing Donaben Goh (Terengganu), James Oram (One Pro Cycling) and Joao Pereira (Funvic-Soul-Carrefour), remained out front for 100 kilometers of today’s 107 kilometer stage, and at one point reaching a maximum advantage of 3:40 over the peloton.
However, the remaining two escapes, Oram and Goh were eventually reined in by the peloton during the final 2 kilometers.
From there, teams began ushering their respective sprinters into place, with there American rider ultimately emerging as the strongest sprinter.
“The Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling team was phenomenal today”, Murphy emphasized. “The guys did an awesome job keeping me in pole position all day, keeping me hydrated in the heat, giving me mars bars… I was in a really good position in the last corner. I had a great lead out. It was a drag race, that’s what I like. It’s a wonderful finish for me and my team. I’m very happy to win here in Malaysia. I’m having an amazing time. It’s a beautiful country and we’ll keep on racing till the end.”
Guardini was happy to keep the yellow jersey but surprisingly, rather than expressing his disappointment, he was full of praise for the day’s winner. “In Unitedhealthcare, we’ve now found a team that can pull with us”, the Italian said. “They do a really good job for their sprinter. I quickly understood how difficult it would be to win the sprint when I launched mine. I started and stayed in the same position I was in.”
Chicchi and Mareczko looked more affected by the defeat. “I’m disappointed”, Chicchi commented. “I’ve had to launched from a bit too far out. Unitedhealthcare did a perfect job. They went to the right, protected by the barriers while I was in the middle of the road going slightly uphill and exposed to the side wind. I have lost because of my too strong desire to win.”
“I was in fourth position at the last curve then I got a bit lost in the sprint”, Mareczko described. “I recovered some positions and managed to pass Guardini but I couldn’t get better than third.”.
Stage 3 Results USA 1 MURPHY, John (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) 2:30:31 ITA 2 CHICCHI, Francesco (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC) ITA 3 MARECZKO, Jakub (SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA) SVK 4 KOLÁR, Michal (TINKOFF) ITA 5 GUARDINI, Andrea (ASTANA) JPN 6 KUROEDA, Shiki (AISAN RACING) JPN 7 FUKUDA, Shimpei (AISAN RACING) AUS 8 JONES, Brenton (DRAPAC) ITA 9 SIMION, Paolo (BARDIANI CSF) ITA 10 PALINI, Andrea (SKYDIVE DUBAI) RSA 11 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt (DIMENSION DATA) KOR 12 SEO, Joon Yong (KSPO) POL 13 DOMAGALSKI, Karol (ONE PRO CYCLING) ITA 14 MAESTRI, Mirco (BARDIANI CSF) MAS 15 SALEH, Mohd Harrif (TERENGGANU) ITA 16 CHIRICO, Luca (BARDIANI CSF) AUS 17 MACANALLY, Ryan (PEGASUS CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM) HKG 18 KO, Siu Wai (HKSI PRO CYCLING) AUS 19 BROWN, Graeme (DRAPAC) MAS 20 LAKASEK, Irwandie (NSC – MYCRON)
General Classification after Stage 3 ITA 1 GUARDINI, Andrea (ASTANA) 10:42:14 ITA 2 PALINI, Andrea (SKYDIVE DUBAI) + 2 USA 3 MURPHY, John (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 6 NZL 4 ORAM, James (ONE PRO CYCLING) + 10 CHN 5 WANG, Meiyin (HENGXIANG CYCLING TEAM) RSA 6 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt (DIMENSION DATA) + 12 ITA 7 MARECZKO, Jakub (SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA) SVK 8 KOLÁR, Michal (TINKOFF) + 16 ITA 9 SIMION, Paolo (BARDIANI CSF) POL 10 DOMAGALSKI, Karol (ONE PRO CYCLING) AUS 11 BROWN, Graeme (DRAPAC) PHI 12 FELIPE, Marcelo (7 ELEVEN – SAVA RBP) KOR 13 SEO, Joon Yong (KSPO) GBR 14 HARPER, George (ONE PRO CYCLING) ITA 15 PACIONI, Luca (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC) MAS 16 OTHMAN, Muhamad Adiq Husainie (TERENGGANU) + 20 COL 17 JARAMILLO DIEZ, Daniel Alexander (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 22 DEN 18 HANSEN, Jesper (TINKOFF) COL 19 LOPEZ MORENO, Miguel Angel (ASTANA) SLO 20 BRAJKOVIC, Janez (UNITEDHEALTHCARE)
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