February 3, 2006 – Here are the results from the second stage of the Tour of Langkawi:

Results
1 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 3.59.24 (41.28 km/h)
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
3 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Wiesenhof Akud
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Great Britain
5 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
6 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) LPR
7 Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
8 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
9 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Japan
10 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Selle Italia Diquigiovanni

Overall

1 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 5.43.01
2 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Wiesenhof Akud 0.06
3 Erki Pütsep (Est) AG2R Prevoyance
4 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Japan 0.12
5 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance 0.15
6 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
7 Benoit Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole
8 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 0.16
9 Elio Aggiano (Ita) LPR
10 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance

January 29, 2005 – Second verse, same as the first. Well, almost. A 171.6 km route from coastal Kangar, south to Kepala Batas, was anticipated to be another day for the sprinters, and so it would be.

An immediate attack by yesterday’s protagonist Fukushima as the starter’s flag dropped, led to a series of counters that set a dozen riders clear, including Navigators Insurance’s Mark Walters, and two of race leader, Graeme Brown’s team-mates. As the gap neared 30 seconds, the Barloworld team let it’s overall intentions be known when South African national champion, Ryan Cox, sent his team to the front, and stretched the field in an immediate and furious chase. The break came back, and an immediate counter by Proton’s F. Ali was joined by Bridgestone Anchor’s Miyazawa, and the two galloped away as Brown’s Panaria squad went to the front to settle things down. The bright orange clad squad set a steady tempo for the next 140km, as the two leaders built a maximum lead of just under 11 minutes.

After the days only KOM at 117km, the Panaria train kicked into gear, and ramped up the pace, rapidly closing the gap on the now very weary leaders. With 20km to go, the field was all together, and the sprinters’ trains were controlling the pace. The justifiably tired Panaria lads backed off and regrouped as the other teams fought for control. With a reasonable headwind and a straight run into town over the last 5km, there was a constant reshuffling at the front. Timing was critical over the last 300 meters, and Panaria’s Graeme Brown hit out a little early, and was just passed at the line by his team-mate Guillermo Bongiorno, but managed to hold off Navigators Insurance’s Oleg Grishkine in a photo finish for second.

Navigators’ climber Cesar Grajales appears to have recovered from his epic travel ordeal, as he surfed the sprinter’s waves to cruise in with the “burley guys” in 17th position.

Stage 2:

1. Guillermo Bongiorno (Panaria)
2. Graeme Brown (Panaria)
3. Oleg Grishkine (Navigators Insurance)

GC (Unofficial):
1. Graeme Brown (Panaria)
2. Guillermo Bongiorno (Panaria) @ :01
3. Takashi Miyazawa (Bridgestone Anchor) @ :08
4. Oleg Grishkine (Navigators Insurance) @ :09