March 10, 2014 (Langkawi, Malaysia) – Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team scored his fourth Tour de Langkawi victory with his powerful sprint on Stage 9, while Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team won Stage 10, the final stage of the 2014 tour. The big news was Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour’s (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team GC win, making him the first Asian rider in the Tour de Langkawi’s 19-year history to take the overall title. Canada’s Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar finished 77th overall.

Stage 9
Belkin Pro Cycling’s Theo Bos made it four stage wins for himself after taking Stage 9 of Le Tour de Langkawi 2014 from Bandar Permaisuri to Kuala Terengganu today.

It was another bunch sprint to end the 111.1km stage under scorching heat, despite a courageous attempt by Yellow Fluo’s Yonnatha Monsalve and Colombia’s Carlos Quintero with an attack to wrest the yellow jersey from Tabriz Petrochemical’s Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour in the penultimate stage.

Monsalve and Quintero opened up a gap of almost four minutes, which would have handed the Colombian the overall lead, before they were caught with 25km to go.

The bunch sprint that ensued produced more drama with a crash in the final two kilometres disrupting it a little bit but Bos stayed out of trouble to beat Astana’s Andrea Guardini and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Aidis Kroupis to the finish line.

“It feels great already, it has been a very good race for us this time. We will see how it goes, maybe if the chance comes, we can still go for another win tomorrow,” said Bos.

“The final sprint was a bit difficult for me today, because it was a little bit disrupted and then I found myself on my own, but I was behind Kroupis and started the sprint there. I managed to overtake him for the win.”

Bos had also won Stage Two, Seven and Eight and today’s win brought his personal tally of LTdL stage wins to six.
Irish national champion Matt Brammeier confirmed the red jersey for the mountains competition today, as today’s stage offered the final two categorised climbs in the race.

Pourseyedigolakhour remained in the overall lead and looks good to become the first ever Asian winner of Le Tour de Langkawi in the final stage tomorrow.

Stage 10 of LTdL 2014 covers 103.1km from Tasik Kenyir to Kuala Terengganu and the peloton will need to cover three laps in a circuit around Dataran Shahbandar before the final sprint.

Stage 10
abriz Petrochemical Team’s Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour was today confirmed as Asia’s first ever overall winner of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) after the finals stage won by Astana’s Andrea Guardini to bring his record of stage wins in the race to 14.

Pourseyedigolakhour celebrated the victory after some hard work by his team to keep his slim 8 seconds lead over second placed Merhawi Kudus of MTN-Qhubeka in the six stages that followed the queen stage of the race in Genting Highlands on the fourth stage.

“I am especially proud to be the first Asian rider to win the overall title in this race. After 19 years it has happened, so this is a big victory for me and for Asian cycling,” said Pourseyedigolakhour, who also became the first Asian to win the Genting Highlands stage in LTdL.

“After the fourth stage in Genting, my team had to work really hard to protect the lead, especially in some very long stages that followed. So, I have to thank them.”

Lithuania’s Aidis Kroupis of the Orica-GreenEDGE team bagged the points classification win after finishing second to Guardini in the bunch sprint at Dataran Shahbandar in Kuala Terengganu to end the race.

Guardini registered his second victory of this year’s race, which was also his Astana team’s second of the season, to add to his victory in Stage Three from Kampar to Kuala Lumpur and extended his record on a day when four stage winner Theo Bos of Belkin Pro Cycling only strolled home in 58th position, not contesting the bunch sprint.

“This year I would have liked to get more wins, but most of the stages didn’t suit my sprints. For me, I prefer to have a long straight to start my sprint at 200 or 250 metres, but this year a lot of stages had a turn at 100 or 50 metres before the finish,” said Guardini.

“So those kind of stages suited Bos, who also had a strong team to put him in good positions. Today, when I had a chance in a sprint that suited me, I am happy to have delivered the win.

Irish champion Matt Brammeier of the Synergy-Baku team had already confirmed his mountains classification win after Stage 9 yesterday and was satisfied with the overall performance of the team from Azerbaijan, who made an impact with their continues attacks and with Brammeier’s jersey victory.

Another team which made a big impact was South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka, who not only finished as overall team champions ahead of Tabriz Petrochemical, but also introduced the surprise package of the race in 20-year old Eritrean rider Merhawi Kudus, who finished second overall just eight seconds behind Pourseyedigolakhour.

Results

Stage 9
1.     Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team     2:32:21
2.     Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
3.     Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica Greenedge
4.     Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Yellow Fluo
5.     Robert Forster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
6.     Michael Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
7.     Leonardo Duque (Col) Colombia
8.     Omar Bertazzo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela
9.     Daniel Klemme (Ger) Synergy Baku Cycling Project
10.     Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN – Qhubeka

71.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar

Full Stage 9 results here.

Stage 10
1.     Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team     2:15:55
2.     Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica GreenEdge
3.     Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Yellow Fluo
4.     Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team
5.     Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Androni Giocattoli
6.     Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia
7.     Jeffry Johan Romero Corredor (Col) Colombia
8.     Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar
9.     Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN – Qhubeka
10.     Robert Förster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team

110.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar     0:03:12

Final GC
1.     Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team     35:07:16
2.     Merhawi Kudus (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka     0:00:08
3.     Isaac Bolivar Hernandez (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team     0:00:11
4.     Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge     0:00:20
5.     Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Team Katusha     0:00:36
6.     Jacques Janse van Rensburg (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka     0:00:40
7.     Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team     0:00:52
8.     Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli     0:01:09
9.     Ghaffari Vahid (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team     0:01:27
10.     Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia     0:01:37

77.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar     0:24:17

Full Stage 10 and final GC results here.