Bradley White (UnitedHealthCare) became the second rider in this year's Tour de Langkawi to benefit from the hesitation of the sprint team when the American won today's 5th stage of the Malaysian race from a breakaway. Having made it into the day's three-rider breakaway, the American beat his companions Thomas Rabou (OCBC) and Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) in the sprint while Mirsamad Poorseyedigolakhour (Tabriz) survived the threat from Meintjes to defend his overall lead.

The Tour de Langkawi is usually a festival for the sprinters but this the escapees are just as successful as the fast finishers. For the second time in just 5 days of racing - and in four days for the sprinters - the breakaway stayed away to the finish and denied the sprinters their chance to shine.

The rider to capitalize the most from the peloton's hesitation was Bradley White who was part of the breakaway trio that ultimately decided the stage. With escape companion Louis Meintjes being very keen to maximize his gains on GC, the American could focus on the final sprint where he beat the third rider in the break, Thomas Rabou.

1.15 later Michael Kolar (Tinkoff-Saxo) was the fastest rider in the peloton's sprint and the young Slovakian must have been left wondering what might have been if the peloton had started to chase a little bit earlier. He beat Rico Rogers (OCBC) and the Androni duo of Omar Bertazzo and Kenny Van Hummel in the final dash to the line but his first sprint win as a s professional would only give him 4th on the day.

Mirsamad Poorseyedigolakhour and his Tabriz team had a little scare as the presence of Meintjes in the breakaway was a potential threat to his overall lead and for a long time, the Iranian team didn't get any help from the sprint teams. In the end, Astana came to the fore to lend a hand and with the gap down to 1.15 at the finish, he defended his 8-second lead of Meintjes' teammate Merhawi Kudus. Meintjes moved into 10th on GC.

The sprinters will get a chance to make amends in tomorrow's 6th stage of the 10-day tour when they head over 199.1km from Melaka to Pontian. Two category 4 climbs are located at the midpoint but otherwise it is a flat day in the saddle that should offer the sprinters a chance to shine if the small 6-rider teams can keep things together over the relatively long distance.

A flat stage

After yesterday's queen stage it was back into flat terrain for the 139.9km 5th stage from Karak to Rembau. The stage was almost entirely flat but two late category 3 climbs inside the final 40km of the stage had the potential to do some damage in the finale.

As it has been the case for most of the day, the race was off to a fast start as it has been evident in the first few days that the breaks actually have a chance of staying away in this year's edition of the Malaysian tour. It took some time for the day's break to be established but after 10km of racing, the elastic snapped.

The break is formed

Rabou, Meintjes, White, Alessio Taliani (Androni), Jeffry Romero (Colombia), and Elchin Asadov (Synergy Baku) took off and the sextet started to build up a gap while the peloton took a short breather to recover after the hectic start. After 26km, they were already 4.40 ahead as Tabriz started to control the peloton for race leader Poorseyedigolakhour. Asadov beat Rabou, White and Meintjes in the day's first intermediate sprint.

There was no great cooperation in the front group which split in two when Taliani, Romero, and Asadov were left behind. The trio tried to get back in contention but after 69km of racing, they were three minutes behind and constantly losing ground.

Meintjes is a threat

Meanwhile, the Tabriz team had stabilized the gap that remained at around 5.50 for most of the day. All the work was still left to the Iranian which faced a threat from Meintjes who had started the day just three minutes down on Poorseyedigolakhour.

The three chasers gave up and were swallowed up by the peloton while Rabou beat Meintjes and White in the final two intermediate sprints. In the first of those, it was Tabriz' Ghader Mizbani who led the peloton across the line but in the second one, Astana had started to chase for stage 3 winner Andrea Guardini, with Alexandr Dyachenko leading the peloton.

The gap is stable

Despite Astana's work, the gap was impressively stable at around 5.50 which was still the situation 48km from the finish. Rabou beat White and Meintjes on the day's first climb while Daniel Klemme (Synergy Baku) was first from the peloton as he protected the KOM lead of teammate Matthew Brammeier.

Inside the final 30km, the advantage started to drop quickly but with 13km to go, the escapees still had 2.55 in hand. On the day's final climb, it was again Rabou ahead of White and Meintjes while Marco Haller (Katusha) was first from the peloton.

Meintjes works hard

Meintjes was really driving it in the front group as he wanted to maximize his time gains on GC, and when they passed the 4km to go banner, they were still 1.40 ahead. It was now clear that the winner would be one of the three escapees.

The trio arrived at the finish together and would decide the stage in a sprint. Here White emerged as the fastest as he held off Rabou while a tired Meintjes rolled across the line 4 seconds later. 1.15 after White had crossed the line, it was Kolar who won the peloton's sprint on another day where the break had foiled the sprinters' plans.