A few weeks ago, Kenny Van Hummel faced the potential risk of having to end his career prematurely when his Vacansoleil team folded but he was thrown a lifeline by Androni-Venezuela manager Gianni Savio. Today he repaid the faith by taking his first win in the sixth stage of the Tour de Langkawi, a victory he described as a very special one.

Androni-Venezuela's Kenny van Hummel caused a sensation when he won a bunch sprint to take top honours in Stage 6 of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2014, covering 199.1km from Melaka to Pontian today. The 32-year old from Holland beat Orica-GreenEDGE's Aidis Kroupis and United Healthcare's Ken Hanson to the win, which was his and his team's first of the season, which also increased his team manager Gianni Savio's LTdL record to 24 stage wins.

The stage was long and with coastal headwinds putting an extra strain on the peloton, which saw several breakaway attempts all kept under control by both the Tabriz Petrochemical Team of overall leader Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour and the sprinters' teams.

"In the last kilometre I was at first on the left with Andrea Guardini (Astana) but the crosswinds were making it a bit messy over there, so I decided to move to the right. Just as I moved, I saw United Healthcare were starting a lead-out, so I tagged along and found a perfect position to start my sprint," said van Hummel.

"It was a clean straight sprint. I just put the hammer down and went full speed.

“It was a chaotic sprint, but my team helped me a lot,” he added. “I was in a good wheel first off, but it was really difficult to stay easy in the final because it was so chaotic. I had Omar Bartazzo and Carlos Ochoa who worked all day for me.”

Van Hummel dedicated the win to his team, who had saved his professional career after being left without a contract, having served the Skil-Shimano and Argos-Shimano teams and later Vacansoleil, even making his LTdL debut two years ago as a lead-out man for Marcel Kittel.

"I had been with Kittel and won some big races with him. But at the end of last season I was out of a contract. I really wanted to remain in the pro peloton, so I am thankful to this team now. This win is sort of a small present for them," said van Hummel.

“[It is] really important. I am happy that they gave me this chance and that they gave me this spot in the team. I always want to win, but this is really special for me.”

Van Hummel was one of the riders to go down in the big crash on stage 2.

“I crashed in the second stage, so I had a lot of trouble with my body but at the moment I am well and I am really happy with my victory," he said.

Manger Gianni Savio was pleased with the spirit of his new signing.

"Congratulations to all and especially to KennyVan Hummel who entered immediately in tune with the spirit of our team, proving to be combative, determined, especially good at a sprint, getting an important success for the Androni-Venezuela," he said.

LTdL 2014 continues tomorrow with the longest stage and the second longest in the history of the race - Stage 7 which covers 230.1km from Kota Tinggi to Pekan, which is expected to again be another tough day dealing with coastal winds for the peloton all along the route.