KAMPAR, Sept 27 — Italian sprint ace Matteo Malucelli from XDS Astana Team, shrugged off the pain of a pre-race training crash to deliver a stunning finish and capture Stage 1 of the Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2026 from Shah Alam to Kampar, today.
The 32-year-old edged out Modern Adventure Pro Cycling’s Riley Pickrell and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA’s Fernando Gaviria in a high-speed bunch sprint, clocking four hours, six minutes, and 53 seconds to claim both the overall leader’s orange jersey and the sprinter classification blue jersey.
“Yesterday I crashed... I did have a crash, so if I win the first stage, it’s a good answer to my body and we have more stages in the front, so if I finish second, you will have more opportunity,” said Malucelli when met after the race, today.
XDS Astana sports director Peter Kennaugh yesterday confirmed that the Italian sprinter was sent to the hospital yesterday for precautionary scans before being given the green light to take to the starting line.
Despite the setback, Malucelli showed zero hesitation on the road, relying heavily on a disciplined tactical masterclass by his teammates who successfully guided him through the tricky technical corners into the final straight.
“Yeah, the team did a very good job from the start. We controlled the race. Gleb Syritsa did a super lead-out, also Aaron (Gate) and GoNovember Yeah, when you have a lot of corners, it’s always difficult, but okay, I did my best and we will see what happens,” he said.
The victory marked the 23rd career win for Malucelli and extended his fine run of form following his stage victory at the Tour of Taihu Lake in China just 11 days ago.
“I will try to do better than last year, for sure. My first goal will be to finish the Tour de Langkawi, because last year I didn’t finish, so we will see. Day by day. If today I win, it’s the best mood to start the LTdL again,” he said.
In other classifications, China Development Team’s Petr Rikunov took the King of the Mountains (KOM) polka-dot jersey with four points, ahead of Terengganu Cycling Team’s (TSG) Kee Zhe Yie (two points) and Malaysia Pro Cycling’s (MPC) Muhammad Syawal Mazlin (one point).
TSG’s Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli was crowned the Best Asian Rider after finishing in 4:06:53s, holding off ART’s Oda Hijiri and MPC’s Muhammad Izzat Hilmi Abdul Halil.
The battle continues tomorrow in Stage 2, which will see the peloton tackle a gruelling 145.6km route from Taiping up to the summit finish at Gunung Jerai. — Bernama
