Endurance is Belletti’s strength in Stage Seven

PETALING JAYA: Italian Manuel Belletti is the king of endurance of this year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL).

The 32-year-old representing Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec put his unrivalled stamina on show by capturing Stage Seven from Nilai to Muar, the tournament’s longest race, yesterday.

Belletti finished the 222.5km route covering a whopping six categorised climbs and three intermediate sprints in 5’08:23 ahead of Wilier TriestinaSelle Italia’s Eugert Zhupa and Astana’s Ruslan Tleubayev in third in a 10-man bunch sprint.

Overall leader Artem Ovechkin of the Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) arrived in the second group one minute and 28 seconds behind but it was enough for him to keep his yellow jersey ahead of today’s final stage.

The overall crown is now for him to lose as he starts Stage Eight from Rembau to Kuala Lumpur with a 28-second cushion over Poland’s Lukasz Owsian of CCC Sprandi Polkowice.

But the day clearly belonged to Belletti as he celebrated his first stage victory since he last won in the Coppi e Bartali in 2016.

Belletti now boasts seven titles under his belt, including the famous stage victory in the 2010 Giro d’Italia — one of the three Grand Tour events besides Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.

“Today’s win is a meaningful one as my last win was more than two years ago,” said a jubilant Belletti.

“The victory drought had influenced my decision to join Androni this season.

“I hope today’s win will mark a new beginning for me this season, where I am targeting to race and win in the Giro again,” he vowed.

From 188 riders who registered for the start of the penultimate stage yesterday, 14 failed to finish, leaving 104 to start the 141.1km final stage today.