Team Jayco-Skins rider Michael Matthews has done it again at Langkawi proving his Stage 1 victory was no fluke, sprinting to victory on Stage 3 of the race.
Matthews, still only 20 years of age, raised his arms aloft, proudly displaying his Bike Pure wristband in front of a massive crowd in Mersing and it was all smiles for him at the head of the 100 strong bunch. Matthews is relishing his time in Malaysia and has hit form at a good time, “Today’s sprint was different to the first one,” he said afterwards, clearly enjoying being back on the podium. “I actually wasn’t feeling that good today in the sprints against this guy [gestures to points leader Anuar Manan], he kept rolling me, so I wasn’t too confident. But coming into the last couple of kilometres I started doing a bit better, got a good lead-out and came away with the win.”
Race leader Tobias Erler (Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling) rode strongly on the mainly flat stage with yesterday’s winner Jay Thomson (South Africa) now his closest challenger, sitting seven seconds behind in the general classification.
Tomorrow’s stage has just one categorised climb en route to the finish in Parit Sulong, a bunch sprint is the most likely outcome and Matthews will be the man to watch. Breakaways also have the potential to succeed and as a result, another fast, aggressive race is on the cards.
Conditions were still unbearable for many riders during today’s stage as temperatures soared to almost 40 degrees, with may riders taking advantage of the cooling jets of water placed at various points of the stage.
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