Arvid de Kleijn Strikes Again in Langkawi, Major Rival Eliminated

Arvid de Kleijn has claimed his second victory at the Tour de Langkawi. The Dutch rider from Tudor outpaced his Norwegian rival Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) once again in the bunch sprint after a rainy stage. However, there was a setback for Unibet Tietema Rockets, as they lost Odd Christian Eiking, who was twelfth in the general classification.

Between Shah Alam and Port Dickson, the riders had to cover just 123 flat kilometers, but the short stage was quite tough due to the heavy rain showers. There were also two intermediate sprints in the first 35 kilometers, which made the GC teams nervous. Uno-X Mobility tried to keep everything together to give their leader Anders Halland Johannessen a chance to grab two sets of three bonus seconds.

In the overall standings, Johannessen faced only a six-second deficit, so this was an important opportunity for him. However, it was Tudor’s Yannis Voisard who seized the moment. The Swiss rider, placed 10 seconds behind in the general classification, took maximum points at the first sprint. Afterwards, the XDS Astana trio of Aaron Gate, Lev Gonov, and Nicolas Vinokourov surprised the peloton, allowing the latter to gain several places.

Meanwhile, the same Chinese-Kazakh team received bad news, as Matteo Malucelli crashed on the wet roads. The three-time stage winner lay on his back for quite a while and ultimately had to abandon the stage race with significant pain.

Fifty kilometers later, there was another bonus sprint, but this time the breakaway riders from the smaller teams did not back down. Dutchman Adne van Engelen (Terengganu Cycling Team) was accompanied by Klahan Noppachai (Thailand Continental), Mow Ching Yin (HKSI), Matsui George (Aisan Racing Team), Kato Shinnosuke (Aisan Racing Team), Kee Zhe Yie (Malaysia), and Javiniar Joseph (7Eleven Cliqq Roadbike Philippines), but they never managed to open more than a two-minute gap.

Tudor, TotalEnergies, and Uno-X kept the stage under control and brought everyone back together in time, although the rain kept the riders on high alert for crashes. Although Uno-X Mobility delivered Erlend Blikra perfectly to the final straight, Arvid de Kleijn launched a powerful sprint to overtake him. That was enough for his second stage win of the week.

Arvid de Kleijn: "It’s a shame I can’t battle Malucelli anymore"

"The weather was terrible, but less bad than in Europe," De Kleijn told our camera. "Here, a shower cools you down, but you get soaking wet. Unfortunately, there were a few crashes as well. I heard on the road that Malucelli had fallen and might have broken his thigh. That’s really unfortunate and a big shame, we could have had some great battles here."

His sprint is also improving week by week. "I thought we were a bit too far back again, but eventually I got into the wheel I needed. I came out well in the end, chose the right space, and that was enough. I still don’t feel 100% after being ill, but I already have the power back and my body is absorbing food well again. That allows you to compete again."