McCabe sprints to stage win in Langkawi

GERIK, Malaysia—American sprinter Travis McCabe (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) took top honours on the longest stage of Le Tour de Langkawi (UCI 2.HC) on Thursday.

The 27-year-old crossed the stage 2 finish just ahead of 2006 Milan-San Remo winner Filippo Pozzato (Wilier Triestina) and current race leader Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data), who were amongst a 50-rider group that remained from the gruelling 208.1km stage across northern Malaysia from Jerteh to Gerik.

“I’m on cloud nine,” said McCabe, who is fresh off a stage win at the Herald Sun Tour (2.1) earlier this month. “You can’t ask for anything better when the leadout works and all goes as plan. It’s perfect.”

McCabe was led out by teammates Daniel Jaramillo (COL), Carlos Alzate (COL), Greg Henderson (NZL) and Tanner Putt (USA).

“We really wanted to be patient and we had five guy and we were all climbing well,” he told Eurosport. “With 3k to go we wanted take control and I think we did at 2.5k. It was a fast finish, mostly downhill, which is not ideal for me but we wanted to give it a shot and work on the leadout.

“Greg wanted Jaramillo to take it to a kilometre to go and then Alzate to 800m, Greg to 500m and Tanner to 150m,” McCabe continued. “I waited a bit longer because yesterday I jumped way too early and made an rookie mistake, so I wanted to work on my patience and trust the guys.”

The 40-year-old Henderson, who played a critical role in establishing the vaunted Lotto Soudal sprint train for André Greipel, rejoins UHC after more than a decade way. The two-time Paris-Nice stage winner began his career with the team, then known as Health Net-Maxxis, in 2004 after transitioning from the track where he won a world championship and Commonwealth Games gold for New Zealand.

“The whole team executed the plan perfectly and pulled off the win so it was a great day on the bike,” Henderson told Eurosport. “We learned from our mistake yesterday and was able to keep Travis calm until the final 150m, and he was able to power to the win.

“It was a great day for Travis and the team.”

With the win, McCabe moves into second on general classification behind race leader Ryan Gibbons, who lifted the yellow jersey off stage 1 winner Scott Sunderland after the Australian struggled over the two categorized climbs to fall more than 22 minutes back.

According to UHC sports director Hendrik Redant, the team is far from finished.

“Our goals will be the same all week, we will have our sprint train ready and we’ll see what happens,” explained Redant. “But we also have the Cameron Highlands, and we will have our climber Jaramillo there. I kept him calm as long as possible today, but he worked hard on the sprint and it’s nice to see that.

“He’s in good condition, so why not go for the race win as well?”

Stage 2 Classification

1. Travis McCabe, USA, UnitedHealthcare, 5:04:41

2. Filippo Pozzato, ITA, Wilier Triestina, s.t.

3. Ryan Gibbons, RSA, Dimension Data, s.t.

General Classification

1. Ryan Gibbons, RSA, Dimension Data, 7:59:13

2. Travis McCabe, USA, UnitedHealthcare, +0:03

3. Filippo Pozzato, ITA, Wilier Triestina, +0:11

Classification Leaders

Race Leader (Yellow Jersey): Ryan Gibbons, RSA, Dimension Data

Points Leader (Teal Jersey): Ryan Gibbons, RSA, Dimension Data

Mountains leader (Red Jersey): John Ebsen, DEN, Infinite AIS Cycling Team

Best Asian Rider (White Jersey): Yevgeniy Gidich, KAZ, Vino-Astana Motors

Best Malaysian Rider: Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin, MAS, Terengganu Cycling Team

Best Malaysian Rider Overall: Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin, MAS, Terengganu Cycling Team

Combativity Award: John Ebsen, DEN, Infinite AIS Cycling Team

Teams Classification: Wilier Triestina, 23:58:26