The final stage of the 2016 Tour de Langkawi saw Andrea Guardini (Astana) sprint to his 4th stage win of the race. In the overall classification though, it was Reinardt Janse van Rensburg who rode away as the 2016 Le Tour de Langkawi Champion.
This morning it was only a flat 119km stage to Melaka that stood between Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka and defending the overall race victory from last year. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg had an 11 second buffer over Daniel Jaramillo (United Healthcare) at the stage start, which he then extended by 3 seconds after winning the first intermediate sprint of today’s stage at kilometer 16.
A 3 rider break was then allowed to go clear, being the final stage though, a number of teams had an interest in getting something out of the race and so a few squads sent riders to help our African Team with the pacing. As expected, when the peloton arrived in Melaka for the 3 local finishing laps, the break was all but doomed. Janse van Rensburg just had to ensure he kept it upright and finished with the front group in order to win the race overall.
Once again the Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka boys were fantastic in protecting Janse van Rensburg during the final nervy sprint finish. Adrien Niyonshuti, Songezo Jim, Johann van Zyl, Nicolas Dougall and Jaco Venter never left our race leaders side and with 5km to go, the team placed Janse van Rensburg in the safest position possible, the front of the peloton.
Going under the final kilometer banner, the sprint opened up with a big fight for position. Janse van Rensburg chose to follow the wheels of the front runners but did not get involved in the chaos to ensure the Tour de Langkawi yellow jersey will stay with Africa’s Team for another year.
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg – Rider
Jens Zemke – Sport Director
Well done Reinardt and the team !!