Rate it!

4 votes

Colombia's Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez of Diquigiovanni-Androni was able to keep his lead in the final stage and win the 14th Tour de Langkawi.

Yohann Gene of BBox Bouygues Telecom was able to outsprint Guillermo Bongiorno of CSF Group-Navigare to win the final stage, a 80.4km criterium in Kuala Lumpur.

Serpa finished 27 seconds ahead of Australia's Jai Crawford with Jackson Rodriguez in third - the same order those riders finished on the pivotal fifth stage in the Genting Highlands.

STAGE SIX

Mattia Gavazzi won the sixth stage of the Tour de Langkawi in a photo finish.

The Diquigiovanni-Androni rider edged Aurelien Clerc of AG2R in a photo finish.

Chris Sutton of Garmin-Slipstream was third in yet another bunch sprint.

Jose Serpa holds a 27 second lead entering Sunday's final stage which sees the riders take part in a 80.4km criterium in Kuala Lumpur.

STAGE FIVE

Diquigiovanni-Androni rider Jose Serpa won the fifth stage of the Tour de Langkawi ahead of Jai Crawford of Australian National Team.

The Colombian completed the mountainous 102km route between Petaling Jaya and the Genting Highlands in a time of two hours, 58 minutes and 56 seconds, 23 seconds quicker than second-placed Crawford.

Serpa's team-mate Jackson Rodriguez came third, a further 18 seconds back.

The big move of the day, however, came as Mattia Gavazzi dropped right back.

The Italian rider won the first three stages and came second in the fourth, but was over 20 minutes off the pace on Friday's stage.

The result drops him back into 78th place and hands the yellow jersey to Serpa.

STAGE FOUR

Indonesia's Samai Samai interrupted the domination of Mattia Gavazzi to win the fourth stage of the Tour de Langkawi.

The Letua team rider completed the 221km stage from Melaka to Bandar Baru Bangi in five hours 51 minutes and nine seconds.

Gavazzi, who won all of the first three stages, came through in second place to retain the yellow jersey comfortably.

South Africa's Nolan Hoffman was just behind in third place.

After several relatively flat stages so far, Friday's 102km fifth stage takes the riders up in to the hills as they head from Petaling Jaya to the Genting Highlands.

STAGE THREE

Gavazzi and his Diquigiovanni-Androni team mates allowed a small group to escape in the opening kilometres of the 186km round trip in Melaka, before overhauling them and sprinting to victory at the finish.

Garmin's Ricardo van der Velde made the early break with Ali Ahmed of the Malaysia National Team and Kyu Seok Suh of Seoul Cycling and the trio quickly build up a solid lead.

But the Diquigiovanni-Androni team took charge of the peloton and, with 15km to go, drew level with the breakaway.

The peloton then withstood an attack from Kazakh Dmitriv Gruzdev before Gavazzi sprinted away for his third stage win.

STAGE TWO

Overall race leader Gavazzi won the 160.9-kilometre stage in six hours, 48 minutes and 35 seconds, while South African Nolan Hoffmann took second place.

"To be honest I never thought that I'd get to win three times in a row in the early season of 2009," Gavazzi said.

"I kind of like the hot weather and manage to adapt to it," he added.

The next stage of the seven-stage race takes place around Malacca before heading north to the Genting Highlands and ending on February 15 in Kuala Lumpur.

After the Malacca leg on Wednesday comes the longest stage, from the port city to the town of Bangi in central Selangor state, which covers 221.0 kilometres.

STAGE ONE

Gavazzi won the first stage in Malaysia's administrative capital of Putrajaya.

Australian Chris Sutton from Garmin Slipstream took second place.

Gavazzi won the 133.8 kilometre (83.14 mile) stage in three hours, six minutes and 42 seconds.

The seven-stage race began in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur on Monday and heads south to the tourist town of Malacca, then north to the Genting Highlands, before ending on February 15 in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

"Today was very difficult so we had to work very hard. Finishing the first stage, it is not an easy win. I think we cannot work this way all the time," said Diquigiovanni-Androni team manager Gianni Savio.

"So tomorrow it is not important to keep our lead, but the right lead would be in Genting. But I think, if there will be a breakaway, we will try to put some of our riders in the breakaway," he added.

Eurosport