Serpa on the verge of taking title
14/02/2009, NST Online

JOSE Serpa surged to his second ever Genting Highlands stage win in Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) as the Diquigiovanni team produced what was always expected of them in the decisive Stage Five yesterday.

The 30-year old Colombian Serpa is now the virtual winner of this year's LTdL, having had to fend off an unexpectedly stiff challenge from Australia's Jai Crawford and Fuji-Servetto's Swedish rider Frederik Kessiakoff right from the foot of the Genting climb yesterday.

But what was evident was that the Diquigiovanni team, drained from the hard work they'd put in from Stage One on Monday following which their sprinter Mattia Gavazzi won three stages in a row, still had a lot in reserve with Jackson Rodriguez and Carlos Jose Ochoa taking turns to serve Serpa in the climb.

Diquigiovanni finished with Serpa 23 seconds ahead of Crawford at the finish line, while Rodriguez came third, a further 19 seconds adrift. Ochoa, troubled by stomach problems the previous three stages, seemed to have recovered and was good enough for sixth spot behind Kessiakoff and Bbox-Bouygues Telecom's Johann Tschopp.

Should there be no mishaps, Serpa will likely seal what is only his third ever general classification win, which will come with a bonus of the mountains classification, the lead of which he took by virtue of the win on the hors category climb which carried 25 points, wresting the Genting polka dot jersey from Le Tua Cycling Team's Jeremy Yates.

"We still have a day of defending to do, but to be in the lead after the Genting stage is a phenomenal feeling. The last time I won the stage in 2007, it was just a stage win. I was sleeping that year and had a deficit that was too big before Genting," said the rider dubbed by his team manager Gianni Savio as "The Lion of Bucaramanga".

"Now it is for us to defend tomorrow (today) and Sunday. This has been a great Tour for my team, with already four stage wins out of five, with also three jerseys."

Diquigiovanni also maintained the points classification lead with triple stage winner Gavazzi, leaving only the Asian riders' classification to another team.

Malaysian team Le Tua, who caused a sensation in Stage Four on Thursday, with a win by sprinter Samai Amari, yesterday sent veteran climber Tonton Susanto up the mountain in pursuit of an outside shot at the yellow jersey.

Tonton took charge of the VW blue jersey from teammate Samai yesterday, with an eighth place finish, two minutes and 24 seconds behind winner Serpa, but leads the Asian classification.

The Tour today heads from Batang Kali to Shah Alam on a 147.6km route, possibly providing another bunch sprint finish on open roads before the curtains are brought down with the traditional Kuala Lumpur criterium tomorrow.

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