SWEET VICTORY FOR MCCABE
American takes third stage in style and claims yellow jersey
AMERICAN Travis McCabe romped to his second career victory in Putrajaya after his team launched a perfectly timed attack at the end of the third stage of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) yesterday.
The 192.6km third stage, which started in Muar and ended in Putrajaya, again saw an early break away, this time by Malaysian National Team’s Sofian Nabil Omar Bakri, Shi Hang (Giant Cycling Team) and Kwon Soonyeong (KSPO).
The trio led for much of the race but were back in the peloton three kilometres from the finish.
McCabe’s Floyd’s Pro Cycling team launched an early attack two kilometres from the finish which stuck till the end.
Italian duo Matteo Pelucchi (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Andrea Guardini (Bardini CSF) settled for second and third while Terengganu Cycling Team’s (TSG) Harrif Saleh was fourth.
McCabe’s performance was also enough to see him take charge of the yellow jersey. Leader after second stage, Marcus Culey (Sapura Cycling Team) is now second, four seconds adrift.
McCabe said his team knew they had to take charge early in the closing stages, especially after it rained late in the race.
“It was both planned and also instinctive. We knew it was going to be a technical finish, especially with the wet roads today (yesterday) which made people a little
afraid of what was coming (in final kilometres of the race),” said the 29-year-old.
“We wanted to take control with two kilometres to go while coming up the bridge to make sure we had the perfect position going into the last KM.
“We saw we had opened up a bit of a gap and we had total confidence with our tyres. I looked back and saw we had a 15-second gap and I just yelled to everybody (teammates) to just go.
“They guys sprinted as hard as they could to set me up and I was just left with open air in the last 500m. I just sprinted as hard knowing that if I could just stay on it I would also get the yellow jersey as well.”
In the 2017 edition,
McCabe won the eighth stage from Setiawangsa to Putrajaya as well as the second stage from Jerteh to Gerik.
With no rider holding any significant advantage in the general classification (GC) so far, McCabe highlighted that he is willing to do the heavy lifting for his team in the 114.2km queen stage today.
“With Genting Highlands coming tomorrow (today), our goals and ambitions are to race for our climber Keegan Swirbul and see where Serghei Tvetcov is as well,” added McCabe.
“The roles will switch a little bit, I’ll be in more of a domestique role, fetching bottles and riding in the front, trying to keep the race controlled until the climb starts.”
The fourth stage today begins in Shah Alam and ends in Genting Highlands, which features an elevation of 1,645 metres that will likely play a major role in determining the outcome of the GC.