Today the Tour de Langkawi finished with stage 8 in Kuala Lumpur and it ended with a classic bunch sprint. Due to sprint bonus, Luca Chirico lost a position, going from 6th to 7th place. A step down that doesn’t change his high quality performance during the whole Malaysian race.

At the first intermediate sprint after 20km, Jesper Hansen (Tinkoff – Saxo) who was sitting behind Chirico in the general classification on the same time, had the power to go into an early attempt and get two seconds, passing the Bardiani rider.

After several attacks, one with the presence of Alessandro Tonelli, the sprint teams brought the peloton back together. The bunch sprint was won by Andrea Guardini (Astana) who beat Ewan (Orica – GreenEdge) and Kolar (Tinkoff - Saxo). 

”The most part of the goals that we set at the start of the race, have been ahieved," sports director Mirko Rossato. "First of all we came to Malaysia to give to our youngest riders the possibility to have a good experience. We trusted Chirico for the general classification and he was there when the roads began to climb, being really close to a great podium in the queen stage. Whether he finishes 6th or 7th doesn’t matter. What is important from my point of view is his positive race attitude and the performance on Fraser’s Hill.

"Unfortunately we lost Simion after two days. He came here after a stop for an injury but I think in the last stages with bunch sprints, he could have challenged Ewan, Guardini and Marezcko. Our other riders also suffered for a virus that affected several teams and they weren’t in good shape during this week. Anyway they didn’t give up and arrived in Kuala Lumpur, supporting Chirico until the last meter."