Matthews rides to victory
02/03/2010, NST
A PELOTON
less active than anticipated rolled hurriedly home for a bunch
sprint to end Stage One of the 15th Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL)
from Kota Baru to Kuala Berang yesterday which saw Michael
Matthews register his first victory as a professional.
The day also ended on another high for local fans as Anuar
Manan put in a strong performance to sweep the leads in points
classification (green jersey) and Asian riders' classification
(blue jersey).
The 174.5km
stage began with the peloton employing a relatively cautious
approach in the early kilometres, with the first attack almost
three kilometres into the stage by Matthews' Jayco-Skins teammate
Richard Lang quickly brought back by an uncompromising peloton.
A sprinkling
of attempts at breaking free came from various groups of riders
after that, but never lasted.
After
local hope Anuar of South Korea's Geumsan Ginseng Asia team
had swept the top points and bonuses from the second of the
intermediate sprints in Kuala Besut, 50.6km into the stage,
Drapac-Porsche's Peter McDonald launched a solo attack, which
was allowed to go.
McDonald
went at it alone for a good 100km, opening up a 10-minute
gap between himself and the main bunch at one point, before
he was caught with 25km to go by a peloton intent on making
it a bunch sprint.
Tabriz
Petrochemical's Hossein Askari had a last ditch go at a solo
attack to the finish, but that came to no avail.
ProTour
team Footon-Servetto had lined up young Vidal Celis, a last-minute
replacement for Portuguese national champion Manuel Cardoso
who was initially on their startlist.
If this
was their plan to pack a punch in the bunch sprints, then
it seemed to work initially as Celis was clearly ahead heading
into the final 100m.
But 20-year-old
Australian Matthews was well hauled up on Celis' left and
chased hard first into his slipstream, then managed to pass
the Spaniard in the final metres.
"I
came here wanting to win, but didn't expect it. In the sprint,
I didn't know what to expect because there were so many riders
I didn't know.
"But
then the Footon rider (Celis) was in front and I was clear
on the left. That gave me something to chase, so I just went
for it," said Matthews.
His win
gave Matthews the yellow jersey as the overall leader, while
Anuar took his two jerseys and McDonald's solo effort saw
him take enough mountains classification points to bag the
polka dot jersey, although he is tied with Malaysian teammate
Adiq Husainie Othman and national team rider Nor Rizuan Zainal
on four points.
The race
continues in the hotbed of Malaysian cycling, Terengganu,
today.
<<
Back to Main |
