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Sullivan scampers to Stage win at Langkawi

Hulu Kelang-Tampin (147.8km)

Published: Feb. 9, 2004
Stage 4 map
Stage 4 map

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

It was another day for breakaways in Malaysia, as Australian Sean Sullivan of the South African Barloworld squad took the fourth stage of the Tour de Langkawi in a dramatic two-up sprint against breakaway companion Devis Miorin (De-Nardi) after 100km off the front. Behind, Canadian Gord Fraser of Health Net won the bunch sprint for a second consecutive day, adding to his points jersey tally and confirming that, at this tour, he’s the sprinter to beat.

After 26km, Fraser won the first of three points sprints over a 148km course marked by a series of climbs — a category 4 pitch at 58km, a category 2 at 86km, and a category 3 at 116km. Soon after, an attack by a group of 35 riders spread out the peloton; in the lead group were the leader’s and KOM jerseys of Columbia-Selle Italia’s first- and second-placed riders Freddy Gonzalez and Marlon Perez.

From that group three riders went clear — Miorin, Allessandro Cortinovis (Lampre) and Ryan Cox (Barloworld). But with Cox in the break — Barloword’s highest ranked GC rider, only 27 seconds down on Gonzalez at the start of the day — the team knew the escape wouldn’t last, so Cox sat up and the team sent forth Sullivan.

“It’s something we do in South Africa pretty often, but to try it at this level and get away with it is a little bit of luck,” said Barloworld’s assistant team director John Robertson. “It was a bit of a gamble, but we’d rather have Cox back and save him. We’re hoping to have him in the time trial tomorrow.”

It was a perfect opportunity for Sullivan to make his move after his breakaway efforts during stage 2’s climb into the Cameron Highlands were eclipsed by Selle Italia’s climbers.

“When [Cox] came back I saw the opportunity to go across to the others in the break,” Sullivan said. “As the gap grew we thought, ‘Maybe we can make it work.’”

Over the first KOM the trio’s lead hovered around 1:30, but before the group crested the steep haul over the 4km category 2 climb, Cortinovis inexplicably sat up and waited for the peloton.

And then there were two
Atop the second KOM, Sullivan and Miorin pedaled slowly as their advantage dropped to 45 seconds to a spread-thin peloton. “We could see their race numbers on the second climb,” explained Health Net’s John Lieswyn, “that’s how close we got.”

But the main bunch sat up at the bottom of the descent, and the pair’s lead quickly opened from 1:10 at 94km to 4:04 at 105km; Selle Italia was driving the chase alone as Sullivan, 5:36 down at the start of the day, flirted with becoming the virtual race leader.

“The team was not worried,” Gonzalez said, “we wanted to keep it around about three minutes, but then we thought as we got towards the end of the race the teams of the sprinters would lift the pace and the break would come back quickly. We were surprised that nobody from the other teams would chase and the break started to get to a serious situation.”

Heading into the third points sprint, Albert Primero (Pagcor-Casino Filipino) drew out Health Net’s Mike Sayers, Brice Jones and Fraser. Fraser took the points but then dropped back as Jones, Sayers and Catalan continued as a three-man chase group to the finish.

Dancers provide a send-off
Dancers provide a send-off
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

“I just wanted to get the points, and I told the Selle Italia guys that I would go back [to the peloton],” Fraser said. “We couldn’t let the Filipino rider just ride away, so I told Mike [Sayers] and Brice [Jones] to see where it goes. If they had another few riders, maybe they’d have a chance to catch the leaders, but it wasn’t bad for us to have the points up the road. I didn’t feel super good for the sprint, so I wasn’t that confident, and I figured having points go up the road was a better thing for me and the jersey.”

While the peloton remained 4:30 down on the breakaway, Jones, Sayers and Primero hovered in between, one minute ahead of the bunch but over three minutes down on Sullivan and Miorin. But as the pair came into the finishing straight, a surreal game of cat-and-mouse ensued, both riders willing to give away precious seconds in hopes for the stage win.

More than once the two riders came to a near-stand still, with Miorin momentarily leading out the sprint before conceding he had nothing left for the finish. A hard-charging Sayers closed the gap to within 1:03, but would have to settle for third, with Jones fourth and Primero fifth.

For the second consecutive day, Fraser won the bunch sprint, this time around with all the main sprinters in the field. It was a confirmation of Fraser’s status as the sprinter to beat in Malaysia this year, as he led out the entire peloton from 250m back without Sayers or Jones in his lead-out train.

“It was a weird day,” Fraser said. “No sprinter’s team wanted to invest the work and have it come down for a bunch sprint for first, because it’s too hard, with the heat and stuff. It’s pretty conservative with the sprinter’s teams. If it was a smaller gap, maybe there would be more interest to bring the break back, but with a strong rider like Sean up there, they weren’t coming back very quickly, so it was pretty much a sprint for sixth.”

“It’s really great for my confidence,” Fraser added. “I’ve been burning a lot of matches so far in this race and it’s good to see all the training I’ve done back home in Tucson is paying off. Mike Sayers and I did a lot of training together this winter and it was nice to see him get up the road, although it wasn’t for the win. I’m definitely happy with the way things are going.”

Less happy with the way things went was the Columbia-Selle Italia squad, which single-handedly drove the chase, even sending second-placed GC rider Perez to the front.

“I don’t know why many sprinter’s teams didn’t help us,” said Selle Italia’s team director Gianni Savio. “If I am the director of a sprinter’s team I would ask three or four teams that have the sprinters to put one rider to the front to help the team of the leader. Normally the teams of the sprinters help the team of the leader, but not today.”

Still, with Gonzalez preserving the leader’s jersey and Perez and Cox again in a tie for second, 27 seconds adrift, Savio is in an admirable position heading in to Tuesday’s 18km time trial. Perez, Savio explained, is the better time trialist, but Gonzalez is the better climber – important on Saturday’s race-deciding Genting Highlands climb. Fourth on GC sits Nicolas White of the South Africa national team, 39 seconds down, while fifth sits Kurt Van De Wouwer (Palmans-Collstrop), 41 seconds down. Another 13 riders lie within two minutes of the race lead.

“We’ll have no problems with the time trial,” Savio said. “I think it will be difficult for Gonzalez to defend 27 seconds, but it makes the race very interesting. Now we don’t know who will be the leader tomorrow. It will be very important for the final classement. Tactics on Genting Highlands will depend on tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s better for us to conserve or lose the yellow jersey. It’s 50-50. If Gonzalez loses the leader’s jersey tomorrow, we don’t have to work as we did today and other days.”

A look ahead: Stage 5
For the first time, the race against the clock is held midway during the race to give riders who are good in time trial races to gain some time. After missing the 2003 race, Melaka is back on the map, hosting the 18km time trial race which starts and finishes at Mahkota Parade in Bandar Hilir. The stage in this historical town could see some shake up and changes in the general classification.

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