The final stage of the 2016 Tour de Langkawi saw Andrea Guardini (Astana) sprint to his 4th stage win of the race. In the overall classification though, it was Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) who rode away as the 2016 Le Tour de Langkawi Champion.

This morning it was only a flat 119km stage to Melaka that stood between Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka and defending the overall race victory from last year.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg had an 11 second buffer over Daniel Jaramillo (United Healthcare) at the stage start, which he then extended by 3 seconds after winning the first intermediate sprint of today’s stage at kilometre 16.

A 3 rider break was then allowed to go clear, being the final stage though, a number of teams had an interest in getting something out of the race and so a few squads sent riders to help Team Dimension Data with the pacing.

As expected, when the peloton arrived in Melaka for the 3 finishing laps, the break was all but doomed. Janse van Rensburg just had to ensure he kept it upright and finished with the front group in order to win the race overall.

Going under the final kilometre banner, the sprint opened up with a big fight for position. Janse van Rensburg chose to follow the wheels of the front runners but did not get involved in the chaos to ensure that Team Dimension Data could successfully defend their Tour de Langkawi title.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg
“I am super happy to finally get a big victory again. It is my first tour victory since 2012 and first victory since 2013. But, I need to thank all of my team for working day in, day out for me and making sure I was protected.”

“I really couldn’t have done it without them. Now I am really looking forward to starting my European campaign in Tirreno, Milan-Sanremo and the rest of the classics.”

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