Langkawi—The 25th silver jubilee of the Le Tour de Langkawi has officially ended earlier as the riders from different teams joined the MMC Langkawi Malaysian Classic.
Two French nationals ended up in the podium, with Johan Le Bon of B&B Hotels-Vital Concept reigning over rival cyclists with a spectacular showing after clocking a time of three hours, 37 minutes and three seconds, outsprinting Australian Jesse Ewart of Team Sapura Cycling (+0;00).
Frenchman Lucas de Rossi (Nippo Delko Provence) managed to place third five seconds behind.
Le Bon took home the top prize of RM10,000, with Ewart receiving RM5,500 for a bridesmaid finish and De Rossi snagging RM3,000.
Pre-race favorite and LTdL’s sprint king Max Walscheid of NTT Pro Cycling team crashed at the last part of the race, ending his successful outing in the tour that included wins at the Kota Kinabalu Criterium International, plus two more stage triumphs.
Some 88 cyclists retired at the middle of the event and did not finish their run, leaving only 28 racers to conclude the Malaysian Classic.
Vino-Astana Motors Nikitin Matvey was hailed as the best Asian rider, duplicating his teammate Yevgeniy Fedorov’s white jersey, while LTdL red jersey owner Nur Aiman Zariff (Team Sapura) bagged another King of the Mountain award with 11 points.
Another Team Sapura member Cristian Raileanu was named the best sprinter of the closing race after garnering 12 total points in intermediate sprints.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Le Tour de Langkawi mastermind Mahathir bin Mohamad joined the flag-off at the start of the event.