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TAIJI Nishitani ended his barren run of almost a year when the Japanese rider won a bunch sprint to bag Stage Six of the Jelajah Malaysia from Kuantan to Bera
yesterday.
The win effectively erased the 28-year-old's tag as a runner-up specialist, with four second place finishes in the Tour of Taiwan last month, topped by multiple second-place finishes since his last victory in the Tour of East Java last year.
"I'm very happy about this. It's also my first win of the year after so many second places, so it is very satisfying," said Nishitani, who also moved into second spot in the general classification behind Tabriz Petrochemical's Mehdi Sohrabi, as the peloton prepared for the decisive Stage Seven from Tanjung Malim to Gohtong Jaya in Genting Highlands today.
"When the breakaway was getting stronger as we approached the finish, I knew I was the stronger sprinter and I just prepared for the sprint. I dedicate this win to our team coordinator Nana (Watarai), who is celebrating her birthday today (yesterday)."
The stage began, as usual, with a sprinkling of attacks at the front as the peloton surged at relatively high speeds of between 45 and 50 kp/h through the route made difficult by lengthy undulations.
A breakaway of 16 riders formed shortly after the second intermediate sprint at the 58.6 kilometre point in Maran, and Nishitani was part of this bunch.
The breakaway never gained a solid advantage, as the peloton driven by the Azad University and Tabriz Petrochemical teams worked at the head to control the gap at less than two minutes all the time.
But just when it was thought the break would be swallowed for a bunch sprint to be formed, the group of 16 found something extra in the final 20 kilometres to surge on.
They did enough to finish 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, with Nishitani edging Australian Savings & Loans rider Joel Pearson at the line, with Ride Sport's Shaun McCarthy third.
Tabriz Petrochemical's Mehdi kept the yellow jersey as the overall leader and also took sole charge of the green jersey for the points classification lead under somewhat controversial circumstances, when the sprint judge decided to first penalise Le Tua's Samai Amari for irregular sprinting as he beat Azad University's Malaysian star Anuar Manan to the second intermediate sprint.
The result was later overturned upon a protest with video evidence by Malaysian team Le Tua and Mehdi was reinstated as the points classification leader with Indonesian Samai now on 15 points, five adrift of the Iranian and four behind Anuar as the race for that classification hits an exciting note with just two stages remaining.
Azad University's Abbas Saeditanha held on to the mountains classification lead with 15 points, just one ahead of Mehdi and teammate Hossein Nateghi who has 11 points as the battle for the race's top climber hits its end today with three categorised climbs leading to the end of the penultimate stage.
National rider Suhardi Hassan is likely to go through this stage unscathed with over four minutes advantage over his closest rival in the Malaysian riders' classification. The 26-year-old from Perli is set to bag his third consecutive win in that classification.
yesterday.
The win effectively erased the 28-year-old's tag as a runner-up specialist, with four second place finishes in the Tour of Taiwan last month, topped by multiple second-place finishes since his last victory in the Tour of East Java last year.
"I'm very happy about this. It's also my first win of the year after so many second places, so it is very satisfying," said Nishitani, who also moved into second spot in the general classification behind Tabriz Petrochemical's Mehdi Sohrabi, as the peloton prepared for the decisive Stage Seven from Tanjung Malim to Gohtong Jaya in Genting Highlands today.
"When the breakaway was getting stronger as we approached the finish, I knew I was the stronger sprinter and I just prepared for the sprint. I dedicate this win to our team coordinator Nana (Watarai), who is celebrating her birthday today (yesterday)."
The stage began, as usual, with a sprinkling of attacks at the front as the peloton surged at relatively high speeds of between 45 and 50 kp/h through the route made difficult by lengthy undulations.
A breakaway of 16 riders formed shortly after the second intermediate sprint at the 58.6 kilometre point in Maran, and Nishitani was part of this bunch.
The breakaway never gained a solid advantage, as the peloton driven by the Azad University and Tabriz Petrochemical teams worked at the head to control the gap at less than two minutes all the time.
But just when it was thought the break would be swallowed for a bunch sprint to be formed, the group of 16 found something extra in the final 20 kilometres to surge on.
They did enough to finish 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, with Nishitani edging Australian Savings & Loans rider Joel Pearson at the line, with Ride Sport's Shaun McCarthy third.
Tabriz Petrochemical's Mehdi kept the yellow jersey as the overall leader and also took sole charge of the green jersey for the points classification lead under somewhat controversial circumstances, when the sprint judge decided to first penalise Le Tua's Samai Amari for irregular sprinting as he beat Azad University's Malaysian star Anuar Manan to the second intermediate sprint.
The result was later overturned upon a protest with video evidence by Malaysian team Le Tua and Mehdi was reinstated as the points classification leader with Indonesian Samai now on 15 points, five adrift of the Iranian and four behind Anuar as the race for that classification hits an exciting note with just two stages remaining.
Azad University's Abbas Saeditanha held on to the mountains classification lead with 15 points, just one ahead of Mehdi and teammate Hossein Nateghi who has 11 points as the battle for the race's top climber hits its end today with three categorised climbs leading to the end of the penultimate stage.
National rider Suhardi Hassan is likely to go through this stage unscathed with over four minutes advantage over his closest rival in the Malaysian riders' classification. The 26-year-old from Perli is set to bag his third consecutive win in that classification.
Source from:
Arnaz M. Khairul
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/Sport/2540726/Article/index_html
