March 06, 2014 (Langkawi, Malaysia) – As the Tour de Langkawi continued in Malaysia, Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team racked up a third stage victory and Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical is only two days away from becoming the first ever Asian winner of the LTdL overall title.

Stage 7 – Kota Tinggi-Pekan – 230.1km
Theo Bos rose above the rest to sweep his personal fourth ever Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) stage win in Stage 7 of the 2014 edition, covering 230.1km from Kota Tinggi to Pekan today.

Riding for the Belkin Pro Cycling Team, the 31-year old Bos made good use of information on the turns heading into the finish line in Pekan to deliver his second stage win of this edition, after winning Stage 2 from Sungai Petani to Taiping.

Bos was led-out by the experienced Australian Greame Brown, who himself has 9 LTdL stage wins under his name, as the peloton was swept aside in the bunch sprint for a dominant win, similar to their one-two finish in Taiping where the rest of the pack were left trailing by a significant distance.

“I had some information from the team car and from those who were already at the finish line, plus we had studied the finish profile before the stage, so I knew exactly where there would be turns and corners, I knew there would be a turn with 500m to go,” said Bos.

The day was marked by a long breakaway with four riders – Yellow Fluo’s Yonnatha Monsalve (the overall winner in 2011), Orica-GreenEDGE’s Brett Lancaster, OCBC Singapore’s Eric Sheppard and Colombia’s Duber Quintero, the winner of Stage 1 in Langkawi.

After opening up a gap of more than 4 minutes, which would have put Monsalve in the overall lead, the peloton began to reel in the breakaway to catch them at 15km to go and preserve the yellow jersey of Tabriz Petrochemical’s Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour.

At the finish, Bos finished well ahead of Orica-GreenEDGE’s Aidis Kroupis and Leonardo Duque of Colombia.

“Heading into the finish, we knew that Kroupis was without Lancaster, who would have been tired after the breakaway. So, we believed we had a bit of an advantage,” said Bos.

“We have more stages to look at from tomorrow with the race being flat all the way to the finish, so we can definitely be looking at more wins.”

The result also saw Kroupis disappointed with not winning the stage, but he did manage to take charge of the blue jersey as the new leader of the points classification from OCBC Singapore’s Thomas Rabou. The red jersey for the mountains classification lead remained with Synergy-Baku’s Matt Brammeier, who has held it from Stage 1.

Tomorrow will present another long stage, covering 202.3km from Kuantan to Marang, with another bunch sprint expected.

Stage 8 – Kuantan-Marang – 202.2km
Theo Bos made it three victories for himself in the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2014 after winning another bunch sprint to take Stage 8 from Kuantan to Marang, covering 202.2km under immense tropical heat today.

Bos, 31, of the Belkin Pro Cycling Team beat Astana Pro Team’s Andrea Guardini to the finish line with Androni-Venezuela’s Kenny van Hummel taking third place after the main sprinters managed to avoid a big crash involving numerous riders 1.5km from the finish line.

“It’s a good feeling to have won my third stage this year to equal our record of three wins last year. That was our target,” said Bos, who also won Stage 2 and Stage 7 to bring his personal tally of LTdL stage wins to five.

Yesterday’s win was also Belkin Pro Cycling’s sixth ever in LTdL, only one of them delivered by a rider other than Bos, as Tom Leezer won Stage 6 of the 2013 edition, which ironically ended in Kuantan, where the start of today’s stage was held.

“I was lucky I was able to stay on my bike although I was touched by some riders when the crash happened, but I was able to stay on my bike. I had a good lead-out from Greame Brown and again was in a good position to sprint for the win.

“We have two more stages which are flat and we have the opportunity to look for more wins, so we will see how it goes.”

The big crash also involved yellow jersey holder Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour of Tabriz Petrochemical, but the Iranian’s overall lead remained unaffected as the crash happened inside the final 3km and thus those involved were accorded the same time as the peloton.

Pourseyedigolakhour has two more days to go to emerge the first ever Asian winner of the LTdL overall title.

One jersey winner could be confirmed in tomorrow’s 111.1km Stage 9 from Bandar Permaisuri to Kuala Terengganu which offers the final two categorised climbs of this year’s race.

Synergy-Baku’s Irish champion Matt Brammeier is the only jersey holder that remains from Stage 1 and will seal the victory in the mountains classification should he remain in the lead after tomorrow’s stage.

Brammeier has 34 points, leading United Healthcare’s ISaac Bolivar by just three points and Pourseyedigolakhour is nine points adrift as the mountains classification battle closes tomorrow.

Lithuania’s Aidis Kroupis of the Orica-GreenEDGE team remained in the points classification lead, just two points ahead of Michael Kolar of Tinkoff-Saxo and nine ahead of Bos.

Results

Stage 7
1.     Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team     5:33:12
2.     Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica Greenedge
3.     Leonardo Duque (Col) Colombia
4.     Carlos Alzate (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
5.     Michael Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
6.     Ken Hanson (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
7.     Robert Forster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
8.     Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Yellow Fluo
9.     Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
10.     Dene Thomas Rogers (Nzl) OCBC Singapore

26.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar

Full Stage 7 results here.

Stage 8
1.     Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team     5:01:58
2.     Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
3.     Kenny Van Hummel (Ned) Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela
4.     Michael Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
5.     Robert Forster (Ger) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
6.     Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica Greenedge
7.     Daniel Klemme (Ger) Synergy Baku Cycling Project
8.     Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar
9.     Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Yellow Fluo
10.     Omar Bertazzo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela

92.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar 2:02

GC after Stage 8
1.     M Pourseyedigolakhour (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team     30:19:00
2.     Merhawi Kudus (Eri) MTN – Qhubeka     0:00:08
3.     Isaac Bolivar (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling     0:00:11
4.     Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica Greenedge     0:00:20
5.     Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Team Katusha     0:00:36
6.     Jacques J.V. Rensburg (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka     0:00:40
7.     Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Belkin-Pro Cycling Team     0:00:52
8.     Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Venezuela     0:01:09
9.     Ghaffari Vahid (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team     0:01:27
10.     Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN – Qhubeka     0:01:41

64.     Antoine Duchesne (Can) Team Europcar 21:12

Full Stage 8 and GC results here.