Gavazzi gets a hattrick
11/02/2009

MALACCA: Italian rider Mattia Gavazzi conquered Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2009 as he got a hattrick and manages to keep the yellow jersey after he finished the third stage today.

The 26-year old rider of pro continental team Diquigiovanni-Androni defeated other riders as he did a spectacular sprint up to the finishing point in the third stage today from Malacca to Malacca, a total distance of 186km.

Gavazzi managed to put himself in the perfect spot to sprint all the way to the finishing point leading the rest of 118 riders in 4 hours 33 minutes and 29 seconds.

“Today, I would say that with the back up from my teammates, I was in a really good condition. They did really well and in high spirit to win,” he said.

Gavazzi won the opening stage from Putrajaya to Senawang on Monday and the second stage from Senawang to Malacca yesterday.

Team Manager Gianni Savio said that he had asked the team to stop working after they reached 30km towards the finish.

“They had been working really hard especially the team leader Jose Serpa. But then Gavazzi said that he is in good condition thus the rest of the team helped him to secure the lead,” he said.

At the third stage today, Gavazzi also kept the green jersey sponsored by MILO and remained the sprint king with 45 points.

Even though no points were collected by the leader at the climb zone in Kesang today, the jersey King of Mountain is still in the belonging of Jacque Janse Van Rensburg from the national team of South Africa.

“Today’s race is longer in distance but quite easier compared to the day before. At first the race was slow and I expect the race tomorrow will be harder with two climb zones,” he said.

Today at the third stage of LTdL, the rider of the Malaysian national team, Ahmad Haidar Anuawar who was in high spirit to secure a better placing from seventh in the second stage yesterday to fourth top best rider in the Asian classification.

The rider from Chukai, Terengganu, ended the rest in a big bunch at 16th place, and was the fourth Asian rider to arrive at the finish point of the third stage at Jalan Hang Tuah.

As for another team Malaysia’s rider Ahmad Fallanie Ali, managed to get points in all three sprint zones. In Muar he gets three points as he secured the second place and third place (two points) at the sprint zone in Bukit Kepong, Tangkak and a point in Kesang.

The fourth stage tomorrow from Malacca to Bandar Baru Bangi is the longest stage in LTdL 2009 with a total distance of 221km.

Riders will be cycling through the sprint zone at the Akademi Laut Malaysia, Port Dickson and Seremban with two climb zones in Bukit Tinggi of 367 meters and Genting Peres of 459 meters before ending the race in Bandar Baru Bangi.

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