Dyball a potential LTdL king after ruling queen stage.
Benjamin conquers queen stage to take commanding lead
PETALING JAYA: Team Sapura Cycling’s Benjamin Dyball put himself in a commanding position for the overall title in the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) after winning the queen stage at the summit of Genting Highlands.
After finishing third overall in last year’s edition, the 29-year-old crossed the finish line after launching a solo attack, leaving Interpro’s Hernan Aguirre of Colombia and Floyd’s Racing’s Keegan Swirbul of the United States with two kilometres to go.
Dyball finished 23 seconds ahead of Aguirre to establish a lead that sees him end a 24-year overall victory drought for Australia.
No rider from Down Under has been able to match the feat of the inaugural winner, the late Damian McDonald in 1996.
The climbing stage yesterday saw a sprinkling of attacks from sprinters looking to bag intermediate sprint points.
Floyd’s Racing’s Travis McCabe of the US, the winner of Stage 3 on Monday, put in an impressive performance for a sprinter, finishing 12th in one of the toughest climbing stages on the UCI Asia Tour.
Dyball, with teammates Cristian Raileanu of Moldova and Marcus Culey of Australia, formed part of an 11-man breakaway at the foot of the Genting climb, which later trickled down into the three podium contestants.
“It all went according to plan. I had Raileanu and Culey sticking with me when the climbing started. When I was in the leading group with Aguirre and Swirbul, I was confident of being able to drop them, so I just played along with them,” said Dyball.
“I am in my best shape but the lead isn’t so big,” added Dyball, of the 27-second deficit that second-placed Aguirre has to make up in the general classification.
“I expect a lot of attacks and bunch finishes after this. But I have a strong team and Sapura will try to defend this jersey.”
McCabe wasn’t expecting to remain at the top of the yellow jersey race but was happy to have retained the green jersey.
“I was at the back of the peloton with 12km to go but I felt strong and just gave it a go. Maybe the power of the yellow jersey pushed me, as I’m surprised that I could climb better today. I will try to hold on to the green,” said McCabe.
He leads the points classification with 41 points ahead of Pro Racing Sunshine Coast’s Michael Freiberg on 28 points and Bardiani-CSF’s Andrea Guardini also on 28 points.
Dyball’s defence of the yellow jersey begins with a tough 200.1km race from Tanjung Malim to Taiping today.