Arvid De Kleijn wasn't even on the original list of expected starters for his Tudor Pro Cycling team at the Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, despite his successful run at the race in the past two years.
An early-season injury – a complicated fracture to the collarbone sustained at the UAE Tour – left a degree of planning uncertainty. One that he, the team and race organisers are sure to consider resolved now that he has won a stage and set the scene for a sprint battle royale.
"I was injured for a long time, so I had to come back, and I wasn't sure if I'd come to Langkawi. At first, I was not on a program, and I was also a little bit disappointed, I have to say, because I've been here twice, and it's a really nice country, nice race, well organised," said De Kleijn after standing on the top step of the podium.
What's more, in both of those visits, he has won two stages.
"I just wanted to come here so I let the team know, and it (the injury) was getting better every week. At one point, they said, Yeah, it's a good choice to let you go to Langkawi, try to get some stages, and I'm happy to finish it up today."
This wasn't just any win that he took on stage 2 of Le Tour de Langkawi, not given the injury-impacted year the 31-year-old has faced. It meant delivering his fifth victory from Le Tour de Langkawi and also his first win of the season, an extremely late one by his usual standards, given De Kleijn has netted five and six wins the past two seasons, and a vehicle to
"I wanted to get the right feeling again, also in this race," said De Kleijn before the event began. "It's been super hard this year, but I feel like Langkawi is the perfect race to feel the sprint again."
And clearly he found that right feeling, with his regular rival Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) – who won stage 1 and took three victories at the race last year – quick to compliment the hand played by the rider who left him having to settle for second place this time.
"For sure, today, Arvid did a perfect job. He was in the right position the last 200 meters," said Malucelli.
That means Malucelli and De Kleijn are now sitting at one stage each after two days of racing. The sprinters who dominated the race last year, with the Italian claiming three stages and De Klein two, have set the scene for an intriguing battle through the remainder of the eight-stage event.
"It's nice to see that we're both in shape," said De Kleijn. "He won yesterday. I won today. I already told him, let's continue this in the coming days. But now I just think it's a fair battle, and it's nice to see that two sprinters who are both really small and fast can be here in the top."
