Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. - Pope John Paul II
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Current racing:
- September 28 - October 5: Tour de Langkawi
Upcoming racing:
- October 3: Mûnsterland Giro
- October 4: Giro dell'Emilia
- October 5: Coppa Agostoni
- October 6: Coppa Bernocchi
- October 7: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- October 7: Tre Valli Varesine
- October 9: Gran Piemonte
- October 11: Il Lombardia
- October 12: Paris-Tours
Latest completed racing:
- September 21 - 28: World Cycling Championships
- September 17 - 21: Tour de Luxembourg
- September 20: Super 8 Classic
- September 19: Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- September 17: GP de Wallonie
- August 23 - September 14: Vuelta a España
- September 14: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
- September 14: GP de Fourmies
- September 14: Trofeo Matteotti
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We posted the report from stage winner Arvid de Kleijn's Tudor Pro Cycling Team with the results.
Here's a machine-translation of the race organizer's stage two report:
KEPALA BATAS: Tudor Cycling Team rider Arvid de Kleijn won Stage 2 from Padang Besar, Perlis to Kepala Batas, Penang in a mass sprint to the finish line today.
After only finishing third in Stage 1 in Langkawi yesterday, he wisely chose the middle ground to overtake Stage 1 winner from XDS-Astana, Matteo Malucelli while VF Group Bardiani CSF-Faizane rider Enrico Zanoncello was third.
Stage winner Arvid de Kleijn finishes just ahead of Matteo Malucelli.
However, Malucelli still retained the green jersey of the overall classification (GC) leader sponsored by Petronas with an overall time of 5 hours 30 minutes 50 seconds, 2 seconds ahead of de Kleijn while the orange jersey of the Sprint King sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) was only 3 points apart.
The best local rider for Stage 2 was Wan Abdul Rahman Hamdan of Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) who was sixth, improving his position from 12th on the first day while teammate Muhammad Nur Aiman Rosli retained the white jersey of the Best Asian Rider, sponsored by Rakan Muda.
Without any climbing zones, St George Continental Cycling Team rider Ben Carman still retained the polka dot Raja Bukit jersey sponsored by BubblesO2, while Unibet Tietema Rocket rider Cedric Bakke Christophersen who tried to escape solo towards the finish line was awarded the Most Combative Rider.
However, the healthy rivalry between the two Kings of Sprint 2024 (Malucelli) and 2023 (De Kleijn) promises to be even more intense on the remaining downhill sections with each determined to continue adding to their collection of stage wins in the PLTdL.
“It was a great feeling. My teammates, especially Changizi (Sebastian), did a great job to keep us in the middle of the front group and I’m happy that everything went our way.
“The PLTdL is definitely a special race for me but personally, I hope the weather will be better in the next stages,” said De Kleijn, who also took his fifth personal stage win, after Stages 1 and 6 in 2023 and Stages 4 and 5 last year.
Regarding his rivalry with Malucelli, which is expected to be even more intense from now on, he said that personally they have no problems, are professional and challenge each other jokingly to add to their collection of victories.
This victory in Kepala Batas is also the fifth stage win for the rider nicknamed Little Gorilla, after Stages 1 and 6 in 2023 and Stages 4 and 5 last year.
According to the Swiss rider, even though the race was held in heavy rain and slippery road surfaces that added almost 3km to the neutral distance, his team remained calm and relaxed, despite a few riders trying to break away.
Only in the last few kilometers, he said, did Tudor start working hard at the front of the peloton before entering the town of Kepala Batas in scorching heat, before the race ended with a mass sprint.
“It was actually a difficult race and I hope the weather will change for the better after this,” said De Kleijn.
Meanwhile, Malucelli was clearly a little disappointed with the ineffective tactics leading up to the final sprint.
“The (Astana) guys worked hard to pull ahead and find a comfortable space but maybe I made a little mistake by accelerating too early until I ran out of energy at the last moment,” said Malucelli, who won 3 stages last year with the Japanese Continental team, JCL UKYO.
Regarding the leader's jersey and the King of the Sprint that he wore in two consecutive stages, the Italian rider said he would try to defend it even though he was aware that Stage 3 Gerik-Pasir Puteh involved a rather difficult climb.
“I know this route because I have done it before 2018 (with Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec). We will see how the situation is tomorrow. But we will try to control the race even though we know it will be difficult because there are only six riders,” said Malucelli, who has collected four stage wins in the PLTdL so far.
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Here's the Tour de Langkawi report from GC leader Matteo Malucelli's XDS Astana Team:
The second stage of the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia once again ended in a bunch sprint. This time, yesterday’s winner Matteo Malucelli took second place, finishing just behind Arvid De Kleijn.
Here's Matteo Malucelli winning stage one.
“Today, things didn’t go perfectly for me. I made a few mistakes in the final kilometers, so my position for the sprint wasn’t great. I had to spend a lot of energy to move up to the front, and after that it was difficult to launch a strong sprint. In races like the Tour de Langkawi, it’s very important not only to have high sprinting speed but also the best positioning and the right timing. Today Arvid De Kleijn delivered the better sprint, so congratulations to him on the victory. Of course, I wanted to win, but overall, with yesterday’s victory and today’s second place, it’s a good start. In any case, we will keep fighting for victory on every stage”, – said Matteo Malucelli.
Nevertheless, after stage two, Matteo Malucelli retained the overall lead as well as the points classification. XDS Astana Team also leads the team classification.
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Van Wilder's Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this:
Following his crash in Sunday’s UCI World Road Race Championships, we can confirm that Ilan Van Wilder has suffered a broken left wrist.
Ilan Van Wilder racing in stage 8 of the 2025 Tour of Switzerland. Sirotti photo.
Ilan – a bronze medallist in the individual time trial race in Kigali – will travel back to Belgium, where the 25-year-old will undergo further examination at the hospital in Herentals, where a further prognosis will be made
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