Marcos conquers Camerons climb, secures the yellow for final push

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Spanish rider, Marcos Garcia is now leading the general classification (yellow jersey) of the inaugural Tour of Peninsular (ToP) road cycling stage race with a three- minute advantage after winning the penultimate stage yesterday.

The 32-year-old from Kinan Cycling Team, edged favourite and teammate, Thomas Lebas to win the queen stage which began from Sungai Koyan for an uphill climb to Tanah Rata (89.5km), clocking 2 hours, 21 minutes and 12 seconds.

Thomas, among the favourites to win the yellow jersey, finished 50 seconds behind, while Indonesian Odie Purnomo Setiawan from PGN Road Cycling Team took the last podium spot (2:22:53s).

Yesterday's hilly route started with two sprints at Kg. Tiat and Kg. Leyar, before a Category 1 climb at Ringlet (1,104m elevation) and ended with a hors category climb towards finishing at Tanah Rata (1,440m elevation).

With the win, Marcos wrested the yellow jersey from yesterday's winner, Nur Amirul Fakhruddin Marzuki from Terengganu Inc TSG Cycling Team (TSG), who only managed to finish in 68th place, 13 minutes and 32 seconds behind the winner.

Having won the 2018 Tour of Japan, Marcos is set to win his second UCI (International Cycling Union) 2.1 Asia Tour title, if nothing goes wrong in the last stage tomorrow, as the Spaniard now leads with an impressive 3:02s ahead of nearest rival, Igor Chzhan of Vino-Astana Motors, with a total time of 13:39:41s.

Marcos also wrested the red jersey (King of Mountain) from Indonesian rider, Aiman Cahyadi of PGN Road Cycling Team, with a two point advantage over Thomas, after collecting 37 points in total.

“Today was a great day for the team and I am grateful that the whole team were super strong to secure 1-2 finish in this stage. I have 100 percent trust in my teammates that they will help me retain the jersey tomorrow,” Marcos said after the prize presentation.

Nur Amirul however, only managed to retain one of the three jerseys he won yesterday, the blue jersey (King of Sprint), as he stayed on top with 44 points.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's Igor Chzhan from Vino-Astana Motors, took the white jersey as the best Asian rider (13:42:43s), after finishing seventh today with 2:24:24s.

The final jersey winners and overall champion will be decided tomorrow after the last stage from Dataran Lipis, Kuala Lipis to Wangsa Walk Mall, Setiawangsa, Kuala Lumpur (151.4km), featuring sprint zones at Raub, Bentong and Gombak, besides climbs at Bentong (Category 4) and Genting Sempah (Category 2). - Bernama