"Two or three attacks in the finish by Sky, Orica and Tinkoff, and it just was me and Zeits in the front 30 riders for the sprint."

Those were the words from Astana's Valerio Agnoli after stage three at the Tour de Langkawi. Agnoli finished seventh behind stage winner Caleb Ewan of Australia, who now leads the General Classification.

Hills in the first 100km of the stage split the peloton, with Andrea Guardini remaining back in the main bunch as Agnoli and Zeits followed the leaders. Guardini, who has won two stages so far in Malaysia this year, conserved his energy with teammates Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev, Maxat Ayazbayev and Daniil Fominykh and finished nearly 30 minutes back.

Agnoli had suffered from digestive trouble the first two stages, but recovered to race strongly in stage three.