Climber Serpa stuns the sprinters
14/2/2008
BANDAR PENAWAR (14 Feb, 2008) -
Jose Serpa proved that he is as good in the climb as he is on
flat terrain when he raced to the front of a 15-man breakaway
to win Stage Six of Le Tour de Langkawi 2008 from Bandar Penawar
to Rompin this evening.
The romping finish for Serpa, who had dominated
the climb up Genting Highlands in 2006 and 2007, was a little
unexpected as he had to contend with having well-known sprinter
Jeremy Hunt (Credit Agricole) in the front group.
But in the end, Serpa proved that he not
only had the strength but also the ability to finish the 182.8km
race well ahead of the others with a time of 4h26'43''.
"The manager (Gianni Savio) had a good
look at the race route and we worked out a plan to interprete
it when the moment comes," said the 29-year-old Serpa.
"It all depended on the surprise factor
and in the last 500metres when I went round the corner, I was
in front and I quickly took advantage when I realized that the
others were behind me."
The undulating terrains through the Felda
heartland made for some hard riding and even though Park Sung
Baek (Seoul Cycling) took the first sprint, the reaction from
the main group were quick as 15 other riders soon joined the early
breakaway.
Apart from Park, Serpa and Hunt, the other
known escapees were David George (South Africa) and Pavel Brutt
(Tinkoff Credit Systems) as they built to an 8:21 minute lead
at the 85km mark.
As they approached the first climb in the
Tour this year in Jemaluang, the gap increased to more than nine
minutes as Chris Meschenmoser (Team Ista) took the Red Jersey
for the first time.
"There was good possibility to win
the jersey and I seized the moment when the others hesitated,"
said Meschenmoser.
As the race wore on and with little reaction
from the peloton, Jorg Lehmann (Team Ista) dropped off from the
breakaway group as the others work in turn to drive forward to
the finish line.
The gap was reduced to just 3:48 after the
third sprint which was won by Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche)
but the excellent fight back from the front group made sure that
a safe buffer was maintained as they raced back to a 5:48 minute
advantage going into the last five kilometers.
As the riders started to gun for position,
they failed to take into account of Serpa jumping ahead to the
line in front of them as the Colombian emerged victorious in front
of a roaring crowd of well over 30,000 spectators.
"I know that it will not be easy in
the next two days but I will try hard to keep it (the Blue jersey)
until Stage Eight," added Park, the new leader for the Asian
Blue Jersey category.
Tour leader Matthieu Sprick is still in
the Tour leader yellow jersey while team-mate Clerc is still in
the green for the sprinters.
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