Description
October 3, 2026
30th Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 🇲🇾 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 7 – Melaka – Batu Pahat : 158,9 km
Le Tour de Langkawi is a UCI ProSeries 2.Pro multi-stage road race across Malaysia,
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October 3, 2026
30th Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi 2026 🇲🇾 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 7 – Melaka – Batu Pahat : 158,9 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.
Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma) took his first professional victory on stage 7 of Le Tour de Langkawi to Batu Pahat, as the break of four prevailed despite a charged pursuit by the sprinters teams.
Gimeno, who was a frustrating fourth on stage 4 when the break survived in the Cameron Highlands, wasn’t going to let a second opportunity slip him by. This time he got to celebrate rather than commiserate as he crossed the line ahead of Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet-BH) in second and Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) in third. The remaining member of the break, Adne van Engelen (Terengganu), was the one who this time had to settle for fourth.
“We came here for a stage victory,” an elated Gimeno, who couldn’t get the smile off his face, told reporters after the stage. “I thought it was the best opportunity the fourth day, but it came today, so I’m over the moon.”
The quartet upset the sprinters plans after going out early as part of a group of seven and it was a hard-earned second break win of the tour. None of the four took the foot off the accelerator pedal until the race was done and Gimeno had claimed the first Spanish stage win of the race, which is in its 30th edition, with an impressive turn of speed.
“I know I’m really fast, but you never know when you go full gas all the day,” said Gimeno. “You don’t know if you have the strength in the sprint but luckily, all the riders in the breakaway, we committed … each one of them went full gas all the way.”
The final day of racing in stage 8 on Sunday is expected to deliver a sprint showdown, although there is a category 3 climb at 50km to go that once again has some potential to create a tempting launch point for those looking for one last roll of the dice at the Malaysian ProTour race.
Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) enters the deciding stage with his grip on the leader’s jersey remaining firm as he kept his 26 second gap to Alex Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) intact on stage 7. Jasch claimed the jersey on stage 2, and hasn’t put a foot wrong since, but is not prepared to start celebrating a potential GC victory, on his first attempt as leader, just yet.
“I don’t really dare to speak too much about it because today on paper it was an easy day but it was a really hard day so in the end its a bike race like every other day and tomorrow, for sure it won’t be easy,” said Jasch at the post stage media conference. “There are still a lot of things that can happen.”
How it unfolded
There were 109 riders starting the stage in the historic but vibrant location of Melaka, and sadly one of the missing riders, Ronan Auge (Unibet Rose Rockets) was in hospital after crashing on stage 6, with his squad saying that while his condition is currently stable and not life-threatening he was being “kept in a medically induced coma to optimise his treatment”.
After the racing started, Aiman Rosli (Terengganu) was the first rider off the mark, determined to get into the break particularly with the first intermediate sprint at his home town, Tangkak, at 45km into the day of racing. Plenty of others, however, had the same idea.
There were twists and turns when it came to forming a lead group but by the time the race was 28km in a break of seven had formed which included Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet-BH), Nil Gimeno (Kern Pharma), Santiago Herreño (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) Adne van Engelen and Kee Zhe Yie of Terengganu, Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) and George Matsui (Aisan).
Matsui and Kee fell away, making it a group of five with 2:25 to the peloton at 30km to go and then Herreño was next.
It was a determined chase from behind but they were only making gradual inroads. No matter what torture the XDS-Astana team and Modern Adventure squad were putting themselves through so Matteo Malucelli and Riley Pickrell could face-off in another sprint, it didn’t seem to be enough.
They still had more than a kilometre at 35 seconds to go after working together flawlessly to make sure the break survived for a second time at the 2026 edition of Le Tour de Langkawi.
Results :
 ME - Stage 7 </strong> - Melaka - Batu Pahat : 158,9 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.
Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma) took his first professional victory on stage 7 of Le Tour de Langkawi to Batu Pahat, as the break of four prevailed despite a charged pursuit by the sprinters teams.
Gimeno, who was a frustrating fourth on stage 4 when the break survived in the Cameron Highlands, wasn't going to let a second opportunity slip him by. This time he got to celebrate rather than commiserate as he crossed the line ahead of Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet-BH) in second and Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) in third. The remaining member of the break, Adne van Engelen (Terengganu), was the one who this time had to settle for fourth.
"We came here for a stage victory," an elated Gimeno, who couldn't get the smile off his face, told reporters after the stage. "I thought it was the best opportunity the fourth day, but it came today, so I'm over the moon."
The quartet upset the sprinters plans after going out early as part of a group of seven and it was a hard-earned second break win of the tour. None of the four took the foot off the accelerator pedal until the race was done and Gimeno had claimed the first Spanish stage win of the race, which is in its 30th edition, with an impressive turn of speed.
"I know I'm really fast, but you never know when you go full gas all the day," said Gimeno. "You don't know if you have the strength in the sprint but luckily, all the riders in the breakaway, we committed ... each one of them went full gas all the way."
The final day of racing in stage 8 on Sunday is expected to deliver a sprint showdown, although there is a category 3 climb at 50km to go that once again has some potential to create a tempting launch point for those looking for one last roll of the dice at the Malaysian ProTour race.
Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling) enters the deciding stage with his grip on the leader's jersey remaining firm as he kept his 26 second gap to Alex Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) intact on stage 7. Jasch claimed the jersey on stage 2, and hasn't put a foot wrong since, but is not prepared to start celebrating a potential GC victory, on his first attempt as leader, just yet.
"I don't really dare to speak too much about it because today on paper it was an easy day but it was a really hard day so in the end its a bike race like every other day and tomorrow, for sure it won't be easy," said Jasch at the post stage media conference. "There are still a lot of things that can happen."
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
There were 109 riders starting the stage in the historic but vibrant location of Melaka, and sadly one of the missing riders, Ronan Auge (Unibet Rose Rockets) was in hospital after crashing on stage 6, with his squad saying that while his condition is currently stable and not life-threatening he was being "kept in a medically induced coma to optimise his treatment".
After the racing started, Aiman Rosli (Terengganu) was the first rider off the mark, determined to get into the break particularly with the first intermediate sprint at his home town, Tangkak, at 45km into the day of racing. Plenty of others, however, had the same idea.
There were twists and turns when it came to forming a lead group but by the time the race was 28km in a break of seven had formed which included Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet-BH), Nil Gimeno (Kern Pharma), Santiago Herreño (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) Adne van Engelen and Kee Zhe Yie of Terengganu, Andrei Stepanov (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) and George Matsui (Aisan).
Matsui and Kee fell away, making it a group of five with 2:25 to the peloton at 30km to go and then Herreño was next.
It was a determined chase from behind but they were only making gradual inroads. No matter what torture the XDS-Astana team and Modern Adventure squad were putting themselves through so Matteo Malucelli and Riley Pickrell could face-off in another sprint, it didn't seem to be enough.
They still had more than a kilometre at 35 seconds to go after working together flawlessly to make sure the break survived for a second time at the 2026 edition of Le Tour de Langkawi.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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