In addition to several one-day races and Paris-Nice in the weekend, this week offers two stage races, the Tour de Langkawi and the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Every day we will offer you short previews of the stages at both the Malaysian and Belgian race.

You can read a preview of Le Samyn here.

Tour de Langkawi, stage 8:

The course:

The race ends with a short 119km stage from Batu Pahat to Melaka. This part of Malaysia is completely flat and even though the organizers have often had KOM sprints on even the smallest rises, they have been unable to find a single categorized climb on this route. In the end, the riders will do three laps of a flat 7.9km circuit. It is not very technical in the first part but there are two sharp turns in quick succession in the penultimate kilometre. Then there’s another 90-degree turn at the flamme rouge and a sweeping turn 500m from the finish.

The weather:

The Malaysian heat is relentless and Wednesday will be another very hot and sunny day with a maximum temperature of 36 degrees. There will be a moderate wind from a northeasterly direction which means that it will be a crosswind all day until they get to the circuit. Here it will again mainly be a crosswind which will also be the case for the sprint.

The favourites:

Astana tried to put Dimension Data under pressure with Miguel Lopez and a very strong Laurens De Vreese but as expected there was nothing to be done on this flat course. Barring disaster, Reinardt van Rensburg will make it two in a row for the African team as the final stage is just a mostly ceremonial affair with no climbing at all.

Both an early and a late intermediate sprint and they could come into play as the GC is still very close. However, it will only be about the minor positions. The first intermediate sprint won’t give Lopez much of a chance to take back the one second he needs to pass Jaramillo in the overall standings as the three Unitedhealthcare sprinters are too fast for him. However, the final sprint could give him a chance as it comes so close to the finish that the sprinters want to save their energy for the finale. It won’t be easy but he has to give it a try.

Today Dimension Data barely got any help but there is little doubt that the final stage will be for the sprinters. It is the final chance for the fast guys and many have been close to victory. Astana, Southeast, Tinkoff, Drapac, Unitedhealthcare and Skydive all want a bunch sprint so even though Dimension Data want the break to stay away, this is a guaranteed day for the fast guys.

The finale is more technical than it was today as there are many turns. This means that positioning and lead-outs are more important but as the final kiloemtre is not too difficult there will be room to get back.

It is hard not to make Andrea Guardini the big favourite. Today he again proved that he is the fastest rider here. It was a close battle with Mareczko as the Astana rider was slightly out of position at the start of the sprint but he showed that he has the speed to beat everyone. With little team support, this is not the perfect finale for him and there is a chance that he will be caught out. However, he has been positioning himself really well so he has to be the big favourite.

In the last two stages, Andrea Palini has proved to be immensely fast but he has had a bad position. That’s very rare for him as he is usually great at finding the right wheel. He clearly has the speed to win and he should find this technical circuit to his liking. If he can finally get his position right, he will be a big challenge for Guardini.

Jakub Mareczko has finally done things right in the second half of the race after he struggled with the positioning in the first part. It has always been known that he is one of the fastest here and if he can again do so well in the finale, he could very well take a second win.

In the last two stages, Drapac have proved that they have the strongest train but Brenton Jones has had bad luck yesterday and made a mistake today by not staying with his teammates. However, lead-outs wil be very important tomorrow and this clearly makes the Australian a solid contender.

The same can be said about John Murphy who has one of the best trains here. There are definitely faster riders here but if his team can hit the front as they have done in the past, he has proved that he can win.

Tinkoff have also done some amazing lead-outs but there sprinters have not been fast enough to win. In this finale, it will be less about speed so they have a chance. They have two potential cards in Michael Kolar and Erik Baska but the former is expected to be given the nod.

Francesco Chicchi loves these short, flat stages and he has the speed to be up there. However, the finale is probably too technical as he positions himself very poorly. Finally, Dylan Page has proved that he is strong in the technical finales. He is not fast enough to win but a podium spot is definitely a possibility.

CyclingQuotes’ stage winner pick: Andrea Guardini

Other winner candidates: Andrea Palini, Jakub Mareczko

Outsiders: Brenton Jones, John Murphy, Michael Kolar

Jokers: Francesco Chicchi, Dylan Page, Erik Baska