LTdL2012: Power of Guardini

ANOTHER bunch sprint ended the third stage of the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) yesterday, and again the peloton found no answer to the power of Andrea Guardini who powered to his second consecutive triumph.

The Italian's seventh LTdL stage win came after his Farnese Vini team were again stretched as a four-man breakaway pushed clear of the peloton after 16km of the 187.6km stage and opened up a gap of over five minutes before the remnants of it were pulled back 20km from the finish.

   Escapees Shinichi Fukushima of the Terengganu Cycling Team, Taiji Nishitani of Aisan Racing Team, Alex Coutts of RTS Racing Team and Malaysia's Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi swept the intermediate sprints on offer between them.

In the third intermediate sprint after 136.2km in Chaah, Fauzan decided to resign from the breakaway group and dropped back into the peloton, stating he was instructed to do so by coach Syed Mohd Hussaini Syed Mazlan in order to preserve himself for the Genting Highlands stage on Wednesday.

  The three remaining riders were caught 10km later as Farnese Vini lined up Guardini for the final sprint, and was  given a hand by United Healthcare, Astana and Colnago-CSF.

  Asian riders' classification leader Dmitriy Gruzdev of Astana gave it a go and broke away solo in the final 10km , but was easily brought back as the bunch sprint was set up.

  As the peloton spread out for the final 100 metres, it was clear that Guardini would feature up front.

Garmin-Barracuda's Raymond Kreder gave it enough to take second spot while local hope Anuar Manan was again disappointed in having to settle for third.

   Garmin-Barracuda were, however, given a scare when general classification contender and 2003 LTdL winner Tom Danielson was involved in a pile-up that included Terengganu Cycling Team's Harrif Salleh inside the final three kilometres of the stage.

The distance of the crash from the finish line salvaged Danielson's fourth position overall, with still a minute and 26 seconds deficit from teammate David Zabriskie, who held on to the yellow jersey for a third day.

  Guardini's second straight win meant he held on to the points classfication lead with 30 points and his much anticipated battle with Anuar for stage wins and the blue jersey has taken shape with the Malaysian just four points adrift.

  "Today it was more difficult than yesterday (Saturday) because Colnago-CSF knew that I was not very good on the climbs and they tried to attack in the king of the mountains point, 10 kilometres from the finish with Marco Canola. But my team did a perfect job today," said Guardini, 23.

  "I was a bit surprised by another Colnago rider, Sonny Colbrelli, in the final sprint because he started his sprint with 400 metres to go, but with 100 metres to go I managed to get in front."

  Stage Four, covering 169.4km from Batu Pahat to Muar provides another opportunity for a bunch sprint in which Guardini will be confident of another victory, while Anuar is determined that his Champion System outfit will improve further today and help him break the Italian stranglehold on the bunch sprint victories so far.

Read more: NST