CAMERON HIGHLANDS – Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider, David Max Poole proved his climbing prowess by winning Stage 3 of the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2024 on Tuesday.
The race, covering 170.3 kilometers from Taiping, Perak to Cameron Highlands, saw Poole cross the finish line first, completing the course in four hours, 24 minutes and 34 seconds.
Astana Qazaqstan’s Harold Martin Lopez finished second, while Thomas Pesenti from JCL Team UKYO secured third place, both recording the same time.
Malaysian rider, Muhammad Syawal Mazlin from Pro Cycling (MPC) was the best Malaysian finisher, placing 44th with a time of 4:29:17s.
“I was surrounded by many great climbers as I approached the finish line. I choose to wait for the right moment before making my final sprint and it worked out well. I’m happy to get my first win here,” said the 21-years-old from Scunthorpe, England
With his victory at Cameron Highlands, Poole took over the Green Jersey from Gleb Syritsa of Astana Qazaqstan Team, who was the overall leader with a time of 10:03:58s, just 0.05 seconds ahead of Lopez.
Lopez commented, “He (Poole) was stronger in the sprint, but I’m still happy with second place. There are many more stages and maybe we can achieve a better result.”
Syritsa, who won Stage 1 in Langkawi last Sunday, had to concede his overall leader status after finishing 90th in this stage.
In addition to the Green Jersey, Poole, also claimed the Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) by earning 15 points, followed by Astana Qazaqstan’s Anthon Charmig with 12 points and Lopez with 11 points.
Meanwhile, young rider Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli from Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) lost his status as the Best Asian Rider to JCL Team UKYO’s Manabu Ishibashi.
Aiman had worn the White Jersey in the first two stages but dropped to 58th in Stage 3.
The Orange Jersey for the Sprint King went to JCL Team UKYO’s Matteo Malucelli, who won Stage 2 from Arau, Perlis, to Butterworth, Penang on Monday.
Malucelli overtook the previous holder, Syritsa by two points after the former was handed a penalty which saw him docked three points resulting him dropping to second with 20 points, followed by Manuel Penalver from Team Polti Kometa with 17 points.
Equipo Kern Pharma is now leading the overall standings with a time of 30:12:27, followed by Astana Qazaqstan Team (30:13:58) and Team Polti Kometa (30:14:07).
In the Asian category, JCL Team UKYO leads with an overall time of 30:14:25, followed by TSG (30:27:37) and MPC (30:34:04).
Stage 4 on Wednesday will start from Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor to Bentong, Pahang, covering 131.2 kilometers and featuring three sprint zones in Raub, Sungai Ruan and Sungai Klau, as well as one climbing zone at GAP.
