Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

October 2, 2026

30th Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 🇲🇾 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 6 – Pandan Indah – Rembau : 1212,3 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.

After two runner-up spots, Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure) snared his Le Tour de Langkawi victory on stage 6, managing to get the better of Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) by taking out the short and sharp day of racing from Pandan Indah to Rembau.

It was a clear-cut win this time, no need to wait for the photo finish to celebrate, as the Canadian and his team played the slightly uphill finish to perfection. Seppe Van Den Boer (Tudor Pro Cycling) made it to the podium again, with the 20-year-old taking third place on the 121.3km stage that offered the third sprint opportunity of the race.

“The last two sprints it was pretty clear that Malucelli and me are super close and the only reason I won today was that the boys put me in a better position than Malucelli’s boys. But that’s just the nature of bike racing, and I can’t thank my team enough,” said Pickrell in a post-race interview.

“We knew we had to be in a really good position and we were hoping my teammate Scott [McGill] could drop me off just before the corner, but he had really good legs, so he was able to take me through the corner. He gave me a really good run to the finish and I’m really happy.”

Race leader Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) maintained his top spot overall, sitting 26 seconds ahead of Alex Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) with two more flat stages ahead.

Still, even though the race ended in a sprint and with the GC gap holding firm, it certainly wasn’t a relaxing day defending the jersey for Jasch, with plenty of moves early, which meant the first-year pro had to stay on his toes.

How it Unfolded
There was no easing into this early-starting stage, which launched at 9am local time, as it was possibly the best opportunity for riders trying to capitalise on a break and thwart the sprinters’ teams, who had been in energy-conservation mode through the mountain stages. It also offered a chance for others to make up some ground in the overall.

This was because, even though the big summit finishes were in the past, the climbs were not completely in the rear-view mirror. The first category 3 climb at Ampang came at just 5 km into the day of racing and then another at Bukit Hantu at 18km.

Over the first climb, Petr Rikunov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) looked to build points in hopes of returning to the top of the KOM classification where he started the day second to Jasch. The race leader was next, clearly wary of the threat to the leader’s orange jersey the hectic opening run on this stage could pose.

There were in fact early splits in the peloton, with the winner of two stages so far, Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana), among those off the back after he and a teammate had a flat at one of the worst possible moments, while Stefan de Bod (Modern Adventure) was off the front between the two early climbs. It bunched up in the peloton through the second, then Mathias Bregnhøj (Terengganu), sitting eighth overall and Josh Burnett (Burgos-Burpellet BH), who, after his second place on stage 5, is seventh overall, made a move, but Jasch wasn’t letting a pair who posed such a GC threat get away, chasing the move himself.

Bregnhøj had another go with Matthis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), but they were also pulled back in. The group that finally established included Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Julien Arriola (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Adne van Engelen (Terengganu), who were later also joined by Juan Martinez (Picnic PostNL), Mikel Retegi (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Rikunov, who took the top KOM points at 66km into the day of racing.

The peloton was back together behind, which meant that with their in-form sprinter in the fold, XDS-Astana were now prepared to go to the front and try to reel in the lead group. With 40km to go, the gap was just 1:20. This buffer dropped further as the kilometres progressed, while Jousseaume attacked from the lead group and by 20km to go it was two riders at the front, with Retegi joining the TotalEnergies rider. Despite the attempt to avoid the catch, at 6.5km to go the pair were reeled in.

That, however, opened up the opportunity for others to try and go, with the first wave of attacks neutralised by Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana) and while that opened up the way for another, the team of Malucelli was prepared to burn through some riders to keep it under control, but Riley Pickrell’s Modern Adventure squad were also prepared to chip in. It turned out to be well worth their while.

Results :