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LE TOUR DE LANGKAWI: Arredondo leaves rivals trailing

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Julian David Arredondo celebrates winning Stage Five of Le Tour de Langkawi yesterday. Pic by Hasriyasyah Sabudin

CUSHION: Colombian wins race to summit of Genting Highlands in style despite wet and cold conditions

JULIAN David Arredondo put himself in a commanding position  when  he left  the big guns trailing as he took victory in cold and wet conditions at the summit of Genting Highlands in Stage Five of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) yesterday.

   The Colombian, riding for Japanese UCI Continental outfit Team Nippo-De Rosa, not only erased  the two minutes and 43 seconds deficit he had on the previous overall leader, Wang Meiyin of Hengxiang Cycling Team, but dominated  the treacherous Genting climb to put a sizeable cushion between the  pack and himself in the general classification.

   Arredondo now holds a one minute and 22-second advantage over second-placed Peter Weening of the Orica-GreenEdge team, who tried in vain to stay with the pint-sized Colombian as he powered towards the summit from his decisive attack,  10km from the finish.

   The 110km stage started at the Proton Centre of Excellence in Subang Jaya.

   Arredondo's healthy lead could prove significant as Team Nippo, who  include very experienced hands in Fortunato Baliani, Shinichi Fukushima and Manabu Ishibashi, work to defend what could emerge as an historic first overall victory  by an Asian team and also a first by a third tier UCI Continental Team.

   "Today (yesterday) our plan was to first look at how the yellow jersey holder Wang Meiyin was riding and how he was behaving.

"I had my teammate (Fortunato) Baliani with me and we attacked together with 10 kilometres to go," said Arredondo, 25, who is only in his second year as a professional.

   "After we had jumped,  I was left alone with a good gap and I just kept my momentum until the finish.
   "I have won some amateur races in Italy and only started as a professional with Team Nippo last year and I won the Japan Cup.

   "So,  this is surely the greatest win of my career. My teammates are all riding well, so I hope we'll be able to defend this jersey in the coming stages and take the overall victory."
   Arredondo also took charge of the mountains classification lead with 45 points, just one ahead of previous leader Meiyin with five stages to go.

   Meiyin, who created history by sweeping all four leaders' jerseys after winning the Cameron Highlands stage on Saturday, is left to defend only the Asian riders' classification which will come under severe attack from the Tabriz Petrochemical team in the coming days after Amir Kolahdozhagh cut that lead to a mere five seconds by finishing sixth yesterday.

   Meiyin finished 20th yesterday, five minutes and 13 seconds behind Arredondo whose  only serious challengers in the final five kilometres were Weening, who finished 26 seconds behind and RTS Racing's Victor Nino who finished third, 44 seconds adrift.

   There will be little time for respite from yesterday's tough stage as the peloton heads into the longest stage of this year's Tour, the 217.5km Stage Six from Mentakab to Kuantan.
The stage takes the riders through some tough undulations,  which puts Arredondo's lead under threat by breakaway attempts.


By ARNAZ M. KHAIRUL | arnaz@nstp.com.my 

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