photo credits @ Tour de Langkawi
Jakub Mareczko (Southeast) claimed stage 6 of the Tour de Langkawi today, after handily beating Juraj Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Dylan Page (Team Roth) in a sprint finished – marking the young Italian rider’s first-ever victory in the Malaysian race.
“There were more king of the mountains primes than usual [four]. It was difficult to hold my place but my teammates kept me in the main group,” Mareczko said afterwards. “In the last few corners to the finish, I stayed in the first three so I was in the right position for sprinting.”
Race Highlights
Today’s curvy route, which was punctuated by four King of the Mountain competitions, saw an eight-man breakaway group containing Songenzo Jim (Dimension Data), Thomas Cully (Drapac), Michael Gogl (Tinkoff), James Oran (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF), Hyo Suk Gong (KSPO), Malaysian Amirul Mazuki (Terengganu Cycling) and Giuseppe Fonzi (Southeast-Venezuela), escape the clutches of the peloton after 10 kilometers of racing.
From there, the escapees went on to establish a maximum lead of almost two and a half minutes over the peloton.
However, by 68 kilometer mark, the heat and humidity had taken its toll on the breakaway group, leaving just Maestri and Gong out front.
Gogl, along with Moreno Amezqueta (Southeast-Venezuela), Adrien Niyonshuti (Dimension Data), and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), would later bridge their way to the lead duo – only to be swept backup by the peloton as they approached the final climb of the day.
George Harper (ONE Pro Cycling) led the race over the summit, but he was quickly reeled back in during the final 6 kilometers.
Not long after, race leader, Miguel Lopez (Astana), suffered a broken wheel, sidelining his hopes of contesting the sprint.
In the meantime, heading into the last few hundred meters, Mareczko emerged from the chaos of a final sharp u-turn – to seize the bunch sprint.
Stage 6 Results ITA 1 MARECZKO, Jakub (SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA) 3:34:01 SVK 2 SAGAN, Juraj (TINKOFF) + 1 SUI 3 PAGE, Dylan (TEAM ROTH) USA 4 MURPHY, John (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) MAS 5 SALEH, Mohd Harrif (TERENGGANU) AUS 6 MACANALLY, Ryan (PEGASUS CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM) AUS 7 JONES, Brenton (DRAPAC) ITA 8 CHICCHI, Francesco (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC) ITA 9 SIMION, Paolo (BARDIANI CSF) ITA 10 PALINI, Andrea (SKYDIVE DUBAI)
General Classification after Stage 6 COL 1 LOPEZ MORENO, Miguel Angel (ASTANA)
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