Bunch sprint number 4 of the Tour de Langkawi saw Italian speedster Alberto Loddo claim another win,
PIC BY BRUNO BADE Italian Alberto Loddo (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) completed a hattrick of stage victories after winning the fifth stage of Le Tour de Langkawi in Kuala Terengganu. The stage finished in a mass sprint, with Maximiliano Richeze (Ceramiche Panaria) and Nicholas Sanderson (SouthAustralia.com-AIS) rounding out the top three. Frenchman Anthony Charteau (Crdit Agricole) remained in the leader's jersey, under no threat from the sprinters today. Loddo, winner of the opener in Langkawi and the fourth stage yesterday, was clearly in a class of his own as he swept through Kuala Terengganu to claim yet another victory. He completed the 167 kilometre race from Kota Bahru to Kuala Terengganu in a time of 3 hours 55 minutes and 7 seconds. "First of all, I would like to thank my team mates for a great work done," said Loddo. "Just like yesterday, we knew that there was going to be another sprint finish. With 500 metres to go, we set the pace and with 300 metres to the finish line, I rediscovered myself and went on to take the stage. "Again I would like to thank my manager Gianni Savio for giving me a break with my cycling career. Thanks to him I have managed to climb back to where I was before." As it has in previous days, the race started fast and the first of the breakaways occurred around the 4km point with 14 riders going clear. Among them were pre-race favourite Francesco Bellotti (Credit Agricole) and Jose Serpa (Selle Italia). The riders attacked but in the end were caught after the sprint in Paser Puteh. There was another try led by Koji Fukushima, but that did not last long. The most significant breakaway was at the 60km mark involving six riders: Franck Renier (Bouygues Telecom), Julio Perez Cuapio (Panaria), Nikolai Trusov (Tinkoff), Johannes Kachelhoffer (South Africa), Miyataka Shimizu (Nippo-Meitan) and Sergio Barbero (Selle Italia). They extended their lead to a maximum of 5'15 around the 100km mark. The bunch behind split into three as it reached the seaside, where there was a strong wind blowing. The leaders were finally caught, thanks to the efforts of the Selle Italia riders, with about 4km remaining. The bunch sprint saw Loddo prevail for the second day in a row and gain his third stage win of the tour. Stage 5 results 1 Alberto Loddo (Ita, Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia) 3:55:07 2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg, Ceramiche Panaria Navigare) 3 Nicholas Sanderson (Aus, SouthAustralia.com-AIS) 4 Julian Dean (NZl, Crdit Agricole) 5 Ahmad Haidar Anuawar (Mas, Letua Cycling Team) 6 Sung Baek Park (Kor, Korea National Team) 7 Pedro Castro (Por, Vitoria ASC) 8 Anuar Manan (Mas, Letua Cycling Team) 9 Daryl Impey (RSA, South Africa) 10 Nikolai Trusov (Rus, Tinkoff Credit Systems) General classification after stage 5 1 Anthony Charteau (Fra, Crdit Agricole) 17:21:48 2 Walter Pedraza (Col, Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia) 0:04:00 3 Thomas Voeckler (Fra, Equipe Bouygues Telecom) 0:04:39 4 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa, Unibet.com) 0:04:43 5 Ian McLeod (RSA, Franaise des Jeux) 6 Pavel Brutt (Rus, Tinkoff Credit Systems) 7 Julien Loubet (Fra, AG2r Prvoyance) 8 Benoit Poilvet (Fra, Crdit Agricole) 9 Sergey Kolesnikov (Rus, Unibet.com) 0:04:45 10 Hossein Askari (Irn, Giant Asia Racing Team) 0:04:47 Got a comment? Discuss this in the Procycling forum. What else is new? Check out the Procycling blog.
