Today’s opening stage was a 20.3km individual time trial: a race of truth against the clock. In a race like Tour de Langkawi where sprinters typically dominate most of the stages, the individual TT allows opportunities for riders to position themselves on the leaderboard; potentially could stay unchanged for much of the race. The other stage that will surely breakup the peloton is the Genting Stage that features a mammoth climb.
It was quite unsurprising that David Zabriskie blazed away to victory, winning margin was just over a minute to Drapac’s Adam Phelan. Zabriskie was excited and wanted to go out fast, and fast he went averaging 49.5km/h on what was a deceptively tough course that looked easy on paper. “I started faster than I should have and that initial effort caught up with me in the end.” says Zabriskie. In preparation for the heat here in Malaysia, he spent time sitting inside saunas to help the body adjust to the warmer conditions. “It now comes down to the hilly stage in Genting and I have a good gap of over one minute which is good for me as it puts me ahead of my key rivals in this race.”
Stay tuned for the Tour de Langkawi updates on my Twitter: Bikedan and tomorrow’s 151km stage to Melaka promises to be a sprinters fest with many ‘sprinter’ teams looking to stamp their authority!
If you wish to read more in-depth reports checkout the following sites for good reports. Keep on scrolling to view a selection of photos I took for the day.
