Photos: PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi

Sasha Weemaes continued his run of form at Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia by sprinting to third place on stage 4, throwing his bike over the line at the last moment to capture his second podium of the week. 

“The train was on the rails today,” the 25-year-old said at the finish. “Everyone did a perfect job.”

The third of six flat stages on the route, the 140km parcours from Bukit Mertajam to Meru Raya was destined for a sprint. A tight left with 300 meters to go where Weemaes lost the wheel of his final lead out rider, compatriot Gijs Van Hoecke, was the main obstacle.

“I took the inside corner so I was further away than Gijs,” he explains. “I was a little bit closed in so I tried to find a gap but ended up making my own gap by jumping between two riders in the last 50 meters, but I was just a little too late. Now I hope for the next one.”

The sprint was won by Daniel Babor (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) with Weemaes being edged out for second on the line by New Zealander George Jackson (Bolton Equities Black Spoke).

With this result, as well as Weemaes’s second-place finish on the opening day and Van Hoecke’s fourth place on stage 3, the team has got top five placings on all but one of the stages.  

Tomorrow, the race heads to the mountains for what will be the GC-deciding stage to Genting Highlands. 

Climbers Paul Double and Embret Svestad-Bårdseng both will start the day just 16 seconds back on the overall and will have their eyes on favorites such as Jeroen Meijers and Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team), Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost) and Carlos Canal (Euskaltel – Euskadi).

You can catch live coverage every day on the race YouTube channel.

Le Tour de Langkawi stage one results
1 BABOR Daniel – Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 3:06:05
2 JACKSON George – Bolton Equities Black Spoke ”
3 WEEMAES Sasha – Human Powered Health ”
4 CANAL Carlos – Euskatel – Euskadi ”
5 CONFORTI Lorenzo – Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Fiazanè ”
6 VIVIANI Attilio – Team Corratec – Selle Italia ”
7 BOGDANOVICS Maris – Hengxiang Cycling Team ”
8 DE KLEIJN Arvid – Tudor Pro Cycling Team ”
9 ZANONCELLO Enrico – Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Fiazanè ”
10 SYRITSA Gleb – Astana Qazaqstan Team ”