Langkawi: Ovechkin takes yellow with Cameron Highlands queen stage win

Less than a month after winning the Turkish Tour of Antalya (UCI 2.2) with the Marathon-Tula Cycling Team, 31-year-old Russian climbing specialist Ovechkin gave his new Malaysian squad Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) a home soil stage at Le Tour of Langkawi (2.HC) on Thursday.

Ovechkin soloed to victory on the 23rd edition’s queen stage (160.4km) atop the hors catégorie (HC) climb in the Cameron Highlands, with Australian Ben Dyball (St George Continental) crossing the line in Tanah Rata 28 seconds later followed by fellow chase rider, Eritrean Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Dimension Data), nearly a minute adrift (+0:55).

“Wasn’t too sure with 25km to go, but when he got two minutes, ‘yeah he could win this’,” said TSG sports director Jeremy Hunt. “I knew the climb really well because we do training camps with TSG and the Malaysian team and, yeah, he won perfectly.

“It’s not that hard a climb, but you can’t really wait for people,” he explained further to Eurosport. “When he attacked it was a tailwind for 15km and he managed to take two minutes. I said if you can go, well then go. It’s 38 degrees (Celsius) and they’ve been climbing in the hot sun for four hours and no one feels good. If you feel really good, just give it a go and he did and we won.”

For the eight-man chase group in pursuit of Ovechkin, who had caught the last two riders — Colombian Juan Felipe Osorio (Manzana-Postobon) and Italian Luca Wackermann (Bardiani-CSF) — of a six-man break with approximately 20km to go, it was a simple case of too little too late said Dyball.

“The chase group hesitated a bit too much in the middle of the climb, can’t bring back two minutes in a few kilometres,” the 28-year-old Aussie told Eurosport. “It’s one of the longer climbs I’ve done, probably the last 9k is hard but most of the beginning is just rolling flat parts but it’s definitely a tough climb.”

While new to TSG, Ovechkin is a former WorldTour veteran after spending two years with Katusha (2010-2011) before six with Professional Continental team Rusvelo where he served a four-month suspension for a doping positive in 2013.

With the win, Ovechkin lifts the yellow jersey off Stage 3 winner Adam de Vos (Rally Cycling), who struggled on the category 1 climb more than 10km before the HC ascent. De Vos crossed the line 3 minutes 34 seconds arrears.

“We knew it was going to be a tough ask with my condition and then just riding in the breakaway, but hats off to the other teams that put it to us and were able to drop me,” the 24-year-old Canadian told Eurosport. “I was suffering early on the climb, but I had my awesome team-mates around me so I rallied a bit, and just when it kicked up there in the last 6k or so I was cracking a bit and that’s when they got away.”

Two-time stage winner Riccardo Minali (Astana) retains the lead in the points classification, while Ovechkin is the king of the mountains. Minali’s team-mate Yevgeniy Gidich, who finished fourth on the stage (+1:01) and is fifth on general classification (+1:07) is the best Asian rider.

Dyball is second on GC at 32 seconds down, with 19-year-old fellow Australian Harry Sweeny (Mitchelton-BikeExchange) still third (+0:59) even after dropping 37 seconds on the day.

When asked about the team’s next steps regarding the yellow jersey, Hunt told Eurosport he is still figuring out the strategy, but the objective is crystal clear.

“I’ve been thinking about that since we won the stage,” he admitted. “It’s gonna take a bit more thinking. Obviously we want to keep the jersey and win the Tour of Langkawi.”

For full stage and race results, please click here.