VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane rider Manuele Tarozzi took full advantage of the gentle route to emerge champion of the sixth stage of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2024 from Batu Pahat to Kulai for a distance of 123.4 kilometres (km), today.

The 27-year-old Italian made a breakaway in the last kilometre before sprinting with EF Education-Easypost rider Stefan de Bod to cross the finish line in 2 hours 28 minutes 58 second(s) for his maiden stage win after two editions of LTdL.

The third place went to the fourth and fifth stage champion of LTdL 2024, Arvid dr Kleijn of Tudor Pro Cycling Team by just 0.09s. “After a good breakaway, de Bod who has extraordinary strength, tried to catch up and wanted to follow me but in the last 300 metres (m) I sprinted until the finish line,” said the climbing expert after the race.

The results today saw de Kleijn again snatching the orange jersey (Sprint King) from JCL Team UKYO rider Matteo Malucelli.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s Max Poole remained in the green jersey (overall lea
der) with a time of 19:02.04s, followed by JCL Team UKYO’s Thomas Pesenti (+0.14s).

In the meantime, ownership of the polka dot jersey (King of Mountain) stayed with BH Burgos rider Mario Aparicio Munoz with 27 points, closely followed by Poole with 22 points and the third rider of Astana Qazaqstan Team, Anthon Charmig with 12 points.

JCL Team UKYO rider Manabu Ishibashi managed to keep the white jersey (Asia’s Best rider) with 19:04.21s, leaving teammate Yuma Koishi (+2.41s), while Aisan Racing Team’s Keigo Kusaba was third (+2.45s).

Tomorrow, the seventh stage will move to Sarawak involving the longest route of 199.3 km from Miri to Bintulu, offering three acceleration zones in Suai, Nyalau and Kidurong as well as a category four climbing zone in Bintulu.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency