Adam de Vos avoids disaster to maintain yellow jersey at Le Tour de Langkawi

by Aaron S. Lee

Previous stage winner Adam de Vos (Rally Cycling) was able to maintain control of his bike after passing through a crash involving half a dozen riders inside the final five kilometres of Stage 4 in Pekan, Malaysia at Le Tour de Langkawi on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old British Columbian holds a 14-second advantage on general classification after finishing on bunch time following a field sprint won by Italian sprinter and Stage 2 winner Riccardo Minali (Astana), whom de Vos lifted the yellow jersey from in Kota Bharu.

Pre-race favourite and last year’s Cameron Highlands winner Mekseb Debesay (Dimension Data) was the only rider to be hospitalised following the crash after suffering a fractured pelvis according to race officials.

Canadian @A_de_Vos of @Rally_Cycling holds on to the yellow leader’s jersey at @ltdlofficial with queen stage looming on Thursday | via @Eurosport #homeofcycling #ltdl2018 pic.twitter.com/vBIhVWYDuL

— Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) March 21, 2018

“I saw him crash hard,” de Vos told Canadian Cycling Magazine. “It was a really scary moment, so I hope he’s OK because he went down hard and I came close to going down also. I just rode through it and managed to stay up, which was a scary moment because it was outside three km to go. I really hope he is okay and can continue the race, and if not, he doesn’t have any serious injuries.”

De Vos, who gave his U.S.-registered Rally Cycling its first win of the season since stepping up to UCI Professional Continental status, enjoyed a reprieve prior to Thursday’s queen stage, which features a grueling uphill finish.

“My awesome teammates took care of me and gave me drinks, ice and rode on the front all day,” explained the Amgen Tour of California stage runner up, who was still visibly showing and physically feeling the effects of his opening stage crash. “I didn’t have much to do today. I just took it easy and tried to recover for tomorrow.”

De Vos will not have to look far to seek advice for the race’s second and final mountain stage. Rally’s sports director and previous Langkawi stage winner Eric Wohlberg is quite familiar with the climb to the finish.

“We are not going to change our plans,” Wohlberg said after hearing the news of Debesay’s crash. “We are going to support Adam 100 percent. He had a helluva ride yesterday and he was very good today and we will see what he has on Cameron.

“I’ve been up it before,” continued Wohlberg the three-time Canadian Olympian, who also won a gold medal in the individual time trial at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumper, as well as a bronze in the road race. “It’s not steep, but it’s long and fast. I remember guys crashing uphill it was so fast.”

As for the current race leader, defending the jersey until the end is his primary focus.

“For sure I am going to give it my all on the climb,” de Vos said. “Whatever happens, happens, but my legs felt better than I expected today. It’s hard with the road rash and the heat. You don’t recover so well, but right now I feel OK.”

Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) is a cycling and triathlon columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to Canadian Cycling Magazine.