Super Gavazzi's domination continues
12/02/2009, NST Online

HIS team were depleted, then drained after being forced to work overtime, and yet nobody found an answer as Mattia Gavazzi (pic) continued his dominance of Le Tour de Langkawi's (LTdL) flat stages with his third consecutive win under the scorching heat of the 180-kilometre loop out of and back into Malacca, that formed Stage Three yesterday.

Italian Gavazzi's Diquigiovanni-Androni Gioccatoli team were forced to head the peloton right from the zero kilometre signpost as a three-man breakaway by Malaysia's Ahmad Fallanie Ali, Garmin-Slipstream's Ricardo van der Velde and Seoul City's Suh Seok Kyu escaped off the front and brought about the longest breakaway of the race thus far, which was only caught with 25km to go.

That breakaway swept the top three points and time bonuses in all three intermediate sprints and the category four climb at Kesang.

Diquigiovanni's workforce were also effectively one man short, as Venezuelan Carlos Jose Ochoa was still being troubled by stomach problems he suffered before Stage Two on Tuesday.

The bunch only began to actively chase down the break, that reached an advantage of more than eight minutes, after the third intermediate sprint at Tangkak, more than 50 kilometres from the finish line.

When the peloton was reunited the breakaway trio with 25 kilometres to go, the bunch sprint was on, but Diquigiovanni were operating on their reserve tank.

Still, they found something extra to place Gavazzi where he needed to be inside the final kilometre and the 25-year-old was unbeatable as he surged with a clear advantage, leaving the rest to fight it out for second, which eventually went to Garmin-Slipstream's Australian Chris Sutton.

It was Diquiguiovanni's 18th ever win in LTdL and Gavazzi's fourth in an impressive start to the new season.

"To say I'm unbeatable is an exaggeration. I'm here with very good form and I'm backed by a magnificent team, who again worked very hard all day to control the race," said Gavazzi.

Gavazzi held on to the leads in both the overall and points classification, while the climb at Kesang yesterday, in which the top four points were taken by South Korean Suh, had no effect on South Africa's Jacques Janse Van Rensburg's grip on the Genting polka dot jersey.

The bunched finish also meant Kazakh Dmitry Gruzdev's grip on the Asian riders' classification was intact, entering the two decisive mountain stages from Malacca to Bangi today and the climb up Genting tomorrow.

Malaysia's performer of the day, Ahmad Fallanie, described his involvement in the long break as a surprise.

"I tried to catch the two right after the zero kilometre signpost. At first I couldn't catch them, but then I saw them calling me to join forces. So, I went and joined in, thinking only to do it until the first intermediate sprint. But after that, they kept going and going, so I just tagged along," said Ahmad Fallanie, a stage winner in the Tour of Indonesia last year.

"After the climb, I was already drained, but just kept at it, until before the 25km to go point, when I was dropped."

<< BACK