Langkawi: Pacioni wins technical sprint stage, Ovechkin remains in yellow

A twisting finish in the final half kilometre gave Pacioni (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) all the opportunity he needed to take a Stage 6 win and pick up his third victory of the season after a short, rainy 108.5-kilometre stage from the base of the Cameron Highlands in Tanah to the flatlands of Tanjung Malin, which is located 70km north of Kuala Lumpur.

Pacioni took advantage of a brief respite from the field to take the line over two-time stage winner Riccardo Minali (Astana), Mohd Hariff Saleh (Terengganu Cycling Team) and all-time leading Langkawi stage winner Andrea Guardini, who picked up his 23rd victory with an opening stage win on Sunday.

According to Pacioni, the 24-year-old studied the parcours before the race on Friday morning and felt whomever took the inside on the final turn would take the stage, believing the “foxiest” rider — not necessarily the fastest — would win.

“[Team-mate Eugert] Zhupa was in the front and there was a dangerous turn at 300 metres and riders rested for a second and immediately started the sprint and I won,” he told Eurosport after the stage.

Pacioni has already picked up wins at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (UCI 2.1) in January and Tour de Taiwan (2.1) earlier this month. However even with two recent wins — three when counting a stage win at Tour of China I (2.1) last September — coming into the race, his name was not on everyone’s shortlist for potential stage winners, unlike fellow Italians Guardini and Minali.

“I do not consider myself a pure sprinter and a favourite ,” admitted Pacioni, who gets the nod with Wilier’s star sprinter Jakub Mareczko (ITA) in Europe preparing for the Giro d’Italia. “But in this kind of arrival, in this kind of mixed stage, I can be very competitive and I always try anyway. Today I demonstrated I can win when given the opportunity.”

Recently signed Terengganu (TSG) rider Artem Ovechkin, who claimed the yellow leader’s jersey after winning the queen stage on Thursday, remains atop the general classification (GC) and the KOM standing with a seemingly unassailable 32-second lead over his nearest GC rival with two sprint stages remaining.

Australians Benjamin Dyball (St George Continental) and Harry Sweeny (Mitchelton-BikeExchange are second and third on the overall, with the latter being 59 seconds down, just one second ahead of Eritrean Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Dimension Data) and six over ‘Best Asian Rider’ Yevgeniy Gidich (Astana) of Kazakhstan.

“We made a plan last night and it worked out today,” TSG sports director Jeremy Hunt explained to Eurosport. “We have two more days to defend it and hopefully we will win Le Tour de Langkawi, but we will take one day at a time.

“It’s the first ever stage win for a Malaysian team,” he continued. “It’s the biggest goal of the year, home tour and all that kind of stuff — everybody’s over the moon.”

For full stage and race results, click here.