KUALA LUMPUR: Sprinter Jakub Mareczko of Alpecin Deceuninck lived up to his pre-race favourite billing by coming out tops in the fourth stage of Le Tour de Langkawi from Sabak Bernam to Meru Raya (137.9km) today.
A three-man breakaway of Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team's (TSG) Jambaljamts Sainbayar, Ricardo Zurita (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) and Raymond Kreder (Team Ukyo) were allowed to go up the road early on.
But the sprinters' teams ensured that it would end in a bunch, mopping up Sainbayar and Zurita with 10km remaining in the race.
A crash occurred roughly 500m from the finish took out some riders including TSG's Youcef Reguigui.
Mareczko escaped the carnage and took the win in three hours 15 minutes and 37 seconds with Lotto Soudal's Rudiger Selig and Eduard-Michael Grosu (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) crossing the line second and third.
UAE Team Emirates' Juan Sebastian Molano, who was stripped of his stage 2 win, was fourth.
Mareczko is no stranger to Le Tour de Langkawi, having previously won stages in the 2016 and 2017 editions.
"We are very happy. It is nice to win more stages here," said the 28-year-old Italian.
"It was good today. It didn't rain and everything went to plan. We will continue to look for more wins."
Sainbayar had earlier closed the gap to white jersey leader Andrey Zeits (Astana) after taking maximum bonus seconds from the three intermediate sprints yesterday.
The Mongolian was first past the line at Hutan Melintang, Kampung Gajah and Tanjung Tualang and is now only one second behind Zeits (Kazakhstan) in the overall Asian classification standings.
There were no changes in the yellow, green and red jersey standings with Ivan Sosa (Movistar), Gleb Syritsa (Astana) and Nur Aiman Zariff (TSG) remaining in charge of their respective classifications.
The fifth stage, which starts in Kuala Kangsar and ends in Kulim tomorrow, will see riders covering 172.0km. There will be three intermediate sprints at Lenggong, Selama and Karangan, as well as one categorised climb (category 2) at Sumpitan.