With stage 4 now completed, the Tour de Langkawi is ready to enter the second and last part of the race. It does so with 4 Tinkoff-Saxo riders in the top forty and all within reach of the top GC. Today’s stage saw yet another bunch sprint, where Andrea Guardini took stage glory for the third time.
 
When asked for a midway status update, Tinkoff-Saxo DS Tristan Hoffman replied:

“So far all stages have been decided among the sprinters, however the majority of the peloton has lost time during the last four days. So right now, we have four guys in the top forty, where the majority of the riders are around twenty seconds off the leader due to bonus seconds”.
 
“We have our two young captains Jesper Hansen and Edward Beltran up there in the GC but also Pavel Brutt and Bruno Pires, who are showing good shape. I can’t say how the GC will end, but we have a decent starting position with several tactical options before the decisive stages”, says Tristan Hoffman.

Stage 4 from Kota Bharu to Kuala Berang took the riders on a hilly 165km parcours. However the severity of the climbs was not enough to shake off the sprinters, who arrived at the finish line ready for a final burst for the line. Andrea Guardini (Astana) was the fastest man on the day in front of Jakub Mareczko (Southeast) and Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge). Tinkoff-Saxo focused on saving energy and staying safe, tells Tristan Hoffman:

“Today, we wanted to consume as small amount of energy as possible, and I expect it will be the same situation tomorrow as well. However, we enter more demanding terrain on stage 6 and 7, which is where the GC will be decided”.