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Ciaran Powers to the Front
Ciaran Power of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team did his overall position at the Tour of Langkawi a power of good today, as he slipped the clutches of the field to galvanise a day-long break.
It was a short, hot stage of 113kms, and attacks were frequent right from the off. Spencer Smith and Ben Brooks both tried their luck before Ciaran found the right combination. With many of the better teams represented in Ciaran's move, it was allowed to gain an advantage, and once they had disappeared from sight on the undulating roads, they were gone.
The Mercury team of the USA showed once again that the pressure of holding the yellow jersey is taking it's toll. Following last night's amazing swearing match between team members right in front of the TV cameras, today the boys in pale green decided to throw the rattles from their prams when nobody would help them chase Ciaran's move. The rest of the field found it hard to see the point of chasing a break where the closest rider to Chris Horner's yellow jersey was Ciaran, at nine minutes. Once again, the petulance of Horner's team was on view for television, as they ranted and raved at anybody within range. The result was a giggle at their expense in many different languages, and the certainty that should they require help on tomorrow's potentially decisive stage to Genting Highlands, they may find it hard to come by.
Ciaran worked his socks off in an effort to take the break far enough in front to put himself within striking distance of the lead. He paid dearly for his efforts in the final 10kms however, when he was unable to respond to some vicious attacks from his breakaway companions. He still managed to finish an excellent 13th on the stage, with enough time left in hand over the main field to move up to 29th place overall.
But the leaderboard may appear purely academic by this time tomorrow night.
The mountain road that leads to the spiralling heights of Genting is far steeper than anything else this race has tackled. The race will climb to a similar height attained at the stage finish last week in the Cameron Highlands, but the road to that point took 60kms to gain 1500 metres in altitude: Genting is reached over 22 dizzy kilometres. It was here last year that Linda McCartney's Allan Iacuone levered himself into 3rd place overall. Tomorrow Matt Stephens will be looking to stay with the men at the front, with Sergei Ivanov of Farm Frites and Kam-Po Wong of Telekom Allstars among the favourites expected to launch their bids for victory. Bjornar Vestol will be hard-pressed to keep his current place of 10th, the steep slopes being no place for a man of his great build.
Today's race started on a sad note, with the shocking news reaching Malaysia from Holland that Wim Jeremies, chief commissaire of this race last year, had been killed in an accident. One of the UCI's top race referees, and a former Tour de France chief commissaire, Wim died when the car he was refereeing a speed skating race from plunged through the ice. His many friends here are still in a state of shock, and he will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. There was a minute's silence for Wim before the race started this morning.
Report by John Deering
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