Loddo first into Bandar Penawar as Anuar goes down fighting
13/2/2008

BANDAR PENAWAR (13 Feb, 2008) - Alberto Loddo exploded into Bandar Penawar to take Stage Five of Le Tour de Langkawi 2008 as Malaysia's Anuar Manan floundered in the intermediate sprints to relinquish the sprinter's green jersey to Aurlien Clerc.

The win for Loddo of the Tinkoff Credit System was a sort of reply from the Italian following Danilo Hondo's win in Stage Four yesterday and where after today, the score stood at one stage win each for the prolific sprinters.

Loddo admitted after the 139.9km race that he was desperate for a stage victory considering that his Tinkoff had been working hard for a bunch sprint over the last few days.

"The team worked hard the last few days but had nothing to show for it but today everything went well (in the race which was completed in three hours seven minutes and 53 seconds)," said Loddo, who took five stages of Le Tour de Langkawi last year.

"(Serguei) Klimov did well in the front and at the 400meter mark I was all alone and at 300m, I moved from the left to the right to win quite easily.

"Winning here (in Le Tour de Langkawi) is harder than in Qatar because you need not only strength but also luck. In Qatar, if you have a strong team, you can win."

For Anuar, the day must have been a major disappointment after being in the green jersey for the last two days of the race only to give it up to Clerc from Bouygues Telecom.

And the two riders were at it almost the whole day long with Clerc taking the first intermediate sprint in Ulu Tiram before Anuar fought back to take Sprint Two in Kota Tinggi.

But with Clerc having taken second spot behind Anuar in Kota Tinggi, the Frenchman holds a one-point advantage over the Malaysian lad and which he then extended further to seven points after he finished third on the stage to Bandar Penawar.

Anuar ended the ride eastward with a credible sixth placing.
"The first two sprints were important for us and we took it as the race has been very unpredictable and we do not know what will happen at the end," added Clerc.

"We have to play it smart although the important is that we protect Matthiue (Sprick in the yellow) for the overall General Classification."

Sprick, who suffered yet another puncture on the day following the two he sustained yesterday, is still a second ahead of Mitchell Docker (Drapac Porsche) in the GC while Japan's Shinichi Fukushima (Meitan Hompo) maintains a two-second advantage over Park Sung Baek (Seoul Cycling) in the fight for Asia's Blue jersey.

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