Description
September 28, 2026
30th Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 🇲🇾 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 2 – Taiping – Gunung Jerai : 145,6 km
Le Tour de Langkawi is a UCI ProSeries 2.Pro multi-stage road race across Malaysia,
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September 28, 2026
30th Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 🇲🇾 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 2 – Taiping – Gunung Jerai : 145,6 km
Le Tour de Langkawi is a UCI ProSeries 2.Pro multi-stage road race across Malaysia, combining flat coastal roads, rolling countryside and demanding mountain stages. The route typically features eight stages of roughly 100–200 km, with substantial variation in terrain and rhythm. Most stages are predominantly paved and fast, with long straight sections and open roads, while the hillier stages introduce sustained climbs that can reach gradients of 8–12%, followed by technical descents and rapid transitions into valleys. High temperatures, humidity and tropical rainfall can add significant environmental difficulty, particularly on longer stages. Positioning is important on exposed roads and before climbs, while sudden changes in weather can alter road conditions and the pace of the peloton. Breakaways often form early, with the main field controlling the advantage before increasing the tempo toward key climbs or finishing circuits. Mountain stages can create substantial gaps, while flatter stages allow groups to regroup and favor sprinters. Stage finishes can range from bunch sprints to reduced-group battles or solo attacks after the principal climbs.
Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) climbed his way to victory at Gunung Jerai on stage 2 of Le Tour de Langkawi, jumping right to the top of the GC pecking order after the first of three summit finishes and firing a warning shot to his rivals in Malaysia and beyond.
The German, who transitioned from speed skating after an injury, is in only his first season in the professional ranks, but charged up the testing climb like an old hand as he chased down and caught Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Serguros RGA) and then kept the pressure onto carve out a gap of 16 seconds by the end of the second stage of the 30th edition of the Malaysian Pro Tour race.
Balderstone, who will next year move over to UAE Team Emirates-XRG, held onto his second place while his teammate Jan Castellon was next at 32 seconds back on the stage.
“With the heat and humidity its super hard and also the climb is super hard so you can’t really hide,” Jasch told the media after heading up to stand on the top step of the podium after his stage win and also to claim the orange leader’s jersey.
“In the end, it’s not so much about tactics and, maybe it sounds stupid when I say this now,” he said with a laugh, “but in the end the strongest mostly wins on this climb. So yeah, it’s not so much about tactics but it’s a really, really honest climb.”
There was never any doubt that this would be an important day for the overall standings as while much of the 145.6km stage from Taiping to Gunung Jerai was flat, that all changed through the final when the race hit the final category 1 climb at 10.6km to go.
At that point there was no easing in, the sharp left onto the ascent going straight into a narrow and steep ramp before continuing to pile on the pain with its twists up through the hairpin bends that seem to just keep coming. The Kedah climb, which through the breaks in the forest opened up to vistas of Straits of Malacca, carved out substantial gaps in the overall beyond the top three spots, with no other riders within a minute of Jasch. With the win bonuses taken into account, Balderstone sits 20 seconds back and Castellon at 38 seconds.
“There are six more stages to come so the GC is still super super open,” said Jasch. “It will be a super hard fight and also really hard to keep this jersey.”
How it unfolded
Seven riders went out on a day when the attacks once again started early, with Hakimi Nazuan (Malaysia National Team), Javier Ibanez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) Ade Meisa (Nusantara), Iqbal Nawawi (Malaysia Pro Cycling), Jihwan Park (KSPO) plus Aiman Zariff and Aiman Rosli of Terengganu. Meisa took the first intermediate sprint at 41km into the day of racing but by the time riders hit the category 4 climb at Selama 53.6km into the day of racing the lead group was splitting and it was Zariff who took top points.
By the second intermediate sprint at Padang Serai it was just Meisa and Nawawi left out front from the break, and Harold Martin López (XDS Astana) snuck out front to grab the final bonus which came with a one second time advantage. After taking the runner-up spot in the second sprint, Nawawi took top points in the third, by that stage, 114km in, being the lone survivor of the break.
XDS Astana were once again prominent in controlling the front of the race as the race headed toward its first summit and the peloton entered the climb all together but that didn’t last long, The sprinters kicked in the clutch after what had, to that point, been a largely flat day all of a sudden took a different turn.
There had been plenty of conjecture through the lead in as to just who would come out on top after this first climbing test, with the travel, heat, humidity and unfamiliar environment all adding op the challenge for the European-based professionals.
Though Jasch proved he was up to it, taking his third victory of the year and carving out a 20 second advantage on the overall standings in his first big test in a tour as team leader. The next two will come on stage 4 and 5, with the longer climbs of the Cameron and Genting Highlands to tackle and the Caja Rural-Serguros RGA duo sitting poised behind.
Results :
 ME - Stage 2 </strong> - Taiping - Gunung Jerai : 145,6 km
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Le Tour de Langkawi is a UCI ProSeries 2.Pro multi-stage road race across Malaysia, combining flat coastal roads, rolling countryside and demanding mountain stages. The route typically features eight stages of roughly 100–200 km, with substantial variation in terrain and rhythm. Most stages are predominantly paved and fast, with long straight sections and open roads, while the hillier stages introduce sustained climbs that can reach gradients of 8–12%, followed by technical descents and rapid transitions into valleys. High temperatures, humidity and tropical rainfall can add significant environmental difficulty, particularly on longer stages. Positioning is important on exposed roads and before climbs, while sudden changes in weather can alter road conditions and the pace of the peloton. Breakaways often form early, with the main field controlling the advantage before increasing the tempo toward key climbs or finishing circuits. Mountain stages can create substantial gaps, while flatter stages allow groups to regroup and favor sprinters. Stage finishes can range from bunch sprints to reduced-group battles or solo attacks after the principal climbs.
Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) climbed his way to victory at Gunung Jerai on stage 2 of Le Tour de Langkawi, jumping right to the top of the GC pecking order after the first of three summit finishes and firing a warning shot to his rivals in Malaysia and beyond.
The German, who transitioned from speed skating after an injury, is in only his first season in the professional ranks, but charged up the testing climb like an old hand as he chased down and caught Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Serguros RGA) and then kept the pressure onto carve out a gap of 16 seconds by the end of the second stage of the 30th edition of the Malaysian Pro Tour race.
Balderstone, who will next year move over to UAE Team Emirates-XRG, held onto his second place while his teammate Jan Castellon was next at 32 seconds back on the stage.
"With the heat and humidity its super hard and also the climb is super hard so you can't really hide," Jasch told the media after heading up to stand on the top step of the podium after his stage win and also to claim the orange leader's jersey.
"In the end, it's not so much about tactics and, maybe it sounds stupid when I say this now," he said with a laugh, "but in the end the strongest mostly wins on this climb. So yeah, it's not so much about tactics but it's a really, really honest climb."
There was never any doubt that this would be an important day for the overall standings as while much of the 145.6km stage from Taiping to Gunung Jerai was flat, that all changed through the final when the race hit the final category 1 climb at 10.6km to go.
At that point there was no easing in, the sharp left onto the ascent going straight into a narrow and steep ramp before continuing to pile on the pain with its twists up through the hairpin bends that seem to just keep coming. The Kedah climb, which through the breaks in the forest opened up to vistas of Straits of Malacca, carved out substantial gaps in the overall beyond the top three spots, with no other riders within a minute of Jasch. With the win bonuses taken into account, Balderstone sits 20 seconds back and Castellon at 38 seconds.
"There are six more stages to come so the GC is still super super open," said Jasch. "It will be a super hard fight and also really hard to keep this jersey."
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
Seven riders went out on a day when the attacks once again started early, with Hakimi Nazuan (Malaysia National Team), Javier Ibanez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) Ade Meisa (Nusantara), Iqbal Nawawi (Malaysia Pro Cycling), Jihwan Park (KSPO) plus Aiman Zariff and Aiman Rosli of Terengganu. Meisa took the first intermediate sprint at 41km into the day of racing but by the time riders hit the category 4 climb at Selama 53.6km into the day of racing the lead group was splitting and it was Zariff who took top points.
By the second intermediate sprint at Padang Serai it was just Meisa and Nawawi left out front from the break, and Harold Martin López (XDS Astana) snuck out front to grab the final bonus which came with a one second time advantage. After taking the runner-up spot in the second sprint, Nawawi took top points in the third, by that stage, 114km in, being the lone survivor of the break.
XDS Astana were once again prominent in controlling the front of the race as the race headed toward its first summit and the peloton entered the climb all together but that didn't last long, The sprinters kicked in the clutch after what had, to that point, been a largely flat day all of a sudden took a different turn.
There had been plenty of conjecture through the lead in as to just who would come out on top after this first climbing test, with the travel, heat, humidity and unfamiliar environment all adding op the challenge for the European-based professionals.
Though Jasch proved he was up to it, taking his third victory of the year and carving out a 20 second advantage on the overall standings in his first big test in a tour as team leader. The next two will come on stage 4 and 5, with the longer climbs of the Cameron and Genting Highlands to tackle and the Caja Rural-Serguros RGA duo sitting poised behind.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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