Sunderland scripts perfect start for Australian team in Langkawi

KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia—After more than a decade of trying to secure an invite to Le Tour de Langkawi, Australian-registered UCI Continental team IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness could not have asked for a finer start with team sprinter Scott Sunderland taking the 124.8km opening stage victory in Kuala Terengganu on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old Australian track star-turned-road cyclist was able to avoid a 15-rider crash in the final 7km that split the peloton into three groups and take the win over WorldTour sprinter Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data), as well as stage 1 favourites Nicolas Marini (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina).

“Being an HC (hors catégorie) tour it’s phenomenal for me and being a sprint tour I think its great to know that I can do it against some of the biggest teams in the world,” said Sunderland, who kicked off his season in January with a second-place finish at the Australian criterium championship behind two-time winner Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott).

Sunderland signed on with IsoWhey Sports after spending last season with US-registered Continental team Illuminate following a year with Aussie squad Budget Forklifts. However, his second season on the road brought few results for the three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and 2012 track world champion.

"Fully committing to road riding and collecting my feet a bit more … coming a bit more of an all-rounder … getting a bit of extra endurance in my legs and getting a new coach and everything else like that has made me more of that package rider,” explained the winner of the epic 280km Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic (2015).

“Hopefully I can show that a bit more in some of these harder stages in getting to the finish a bit fresher and being able to back up the next day when I do get the chance to sprint.”

For team sports director and co-founder Andrew Christie-Johnston, the win is a perfect start to a race he has been lobbying to attend since the team’s inception in 2000.

“It was a fair bit of shouting in the last 5km from me across the radio reminding them of that fact,” admitted Christie-Johnston, referring to the 17-year wait for an invitation. “It’s taken us so long to eventually get to an HC race and this is one we’ve always wanted to do. It’s been hard all those years sitting at home watching for so many years thinking maybe we’d have a decent crack over here.

“To see ‘Sundo’ take stage one is just bloody awesome.”

With the win, Sunderland claims the yellow leader's jersey with a four-second lead on his nearest rival Gibbons due to time bonus in the eight-day UCI 2.HC road race. He also holds a three-point lead over Gibbons in the points classification.

Stage 1 Classification

1. Scott Sunderland, AUS, IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness, 2:54:35

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

3. Nicolas Marini, ITA, Nippo-Vini Fantini, s.t.

General Classification

1. Scott Sunderland, AUS, IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness, 2:54:35

2. Ryan Gibbons, RSA, Dimension Data, +0:04

3. Nicolas Marini, ITA, Nippo-Vini Fantini, +0:06

Classification Leaders

Race Leader (Yellow Jersey): Scott Sunderland, AUS, IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness

Points Leader (Teal Jersey): Scott Sunderland, AUS, IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness

Mountains leader (Red Jersey): Nur Amirull Fakhruddin, MAS, Terengganu Cycling Team

Best Asian Rider (White Jersey): Shiki Kuroeda, JPN, Asian Racing Team

Best Malaysian Rider: Mohd Zamri Saleh, MAS, Terengganu Cycling Team

Combativity Award: Sea Keong Loh, MAS, Thailand Continental Team

Teams classification: IsoWhey Sports-SwissWellness, 8:44:23