CAMERON HIGHLANDS — Petr Rikunov delivered the first breakaway victory of the 30th Le Tour de Langkawi, leaping from a three-man group inside the final kilometre to win Stage 4 atop the Cameron Highlands. The 142.3km stage from Meru Raya ended with the Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu rider taking his first UCI win of the season, while Tudor Pro Cycling's Lennart Jasch finished safely in the main group to retain the overall lead.
Rikunov's late surge proved decisive on the summit finish. Javier Ibanez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) chased to second at three seconds, Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies) took third at nine seconds, and Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma) finished fourth at 28 seconds after slipping off the front in the closing kilometres. "Today we had three really good with Caja, with Kern, with Total. But I think today was a really good, good day for us," Rikunov said, adding everyone was pulling and going 'full gas' all day to keep the gap. "But yeah, I have more strong legs today in the last km."
Jasch crossed the line in a group of 32 containing all the key general classification contenders, preserving his 20-second advantage over Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and 38 seconds over teammate Jan Castellon. "With like 2km's to go the attacks started a bit but before it was quite controlled because ... the climb is not so steep so you have so much draft that it's really hard to get away," Jasch told media after the stage.
The stage was expected to favor climbers, but a six-rider break with no GC threat was allowed to drift clear. Javier Ibanez, Nil Gimeno, Petr Rikunov and George Matsui (Aisan) made the initial move stick, with Ade Meisa (Nusantara) and Alan Jousseaume bridging to make six. An early crash behind caught Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL), seventh overall, and Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), who both continued, while Owen Geleijn (Unibet Rose Rockets) abandoned and was taken to hospital for checks. His team said there were no broken bones, but stitches to his chin and elbow along with abrasions to his chest.
Conditions shifted from heat and sun at the start to rain and cooler temperatures as the peloton entered the central Malaysian jungle, with the final 50km offering little relief from climbing. Tudor Pro Cycling set a high tempo on the ascent, but the leaders still held 4:20 with 25km to go. Meisa, then Matsui and finally Gimeno drifted back, leaving three to contest the win in the final kilometre where Rikunov made the winning move.