XDS Astana's Matteo Malucelli wins final stage of Le Tour de Langkawi
Matteo Malucelli of XDS Astana Team won the final stage of Le Tour de Langkawi, securing his third stage victory at this year’s race and his ninth career stage win in the Malaysian cycling event, Qazinform News Agency cites the team's press service.
The final stage traditionally ended in a mass sprint, where Malucelli prevailed after a strong team performance by XDS Astana Team.
“The whole team was simply fantastic today! The guys did an incredible job from the very first kilometers all the way to the finish,” Malucelli said.
He praised his teammates for controlling the race and setting up the final sprint. Harold Martín López spent much of the stage at the front controlling the breakaway, while Alessio Delle Vedove and Lev Gonov took over in the closing stages. Gonov then launched the lead-out, bringing Malucelli and the team to the final 1.5 kilometers.
“After that, Aaron (Gate) and Gleb (Syritsa) were absolutely fantastic and did everything perfectly. I knew I had to start my sprint a little earlier than I had in the previous two days, so I opened it with 200 meters to go and gave everything until the finish, which brought us the victory,” Malucelli said.
The Italian rider said ending a demanding week with a victory made the result particularly satisfying.
“It is always nice to finish a race with a win, and after such a difficult week, it is twice as satisfying. Besides the three stage wins, we are also taking home the points classification, so it was a very good race for us,” he said.
The victory marked Malucelli’s eighth win of the 2026 season and the 31st victory for XDS Astana Team this year.
At the conclusion of Le Tour de Langkawi, Malucelli also secured the blue jersey as winner of the points classification. Harold Martín López was XDS Astana Team’s highest-placed rider in the general classification, finishing 12th overall.
Malucelli will now take several days off before competing in the Tour de Kyushu, the final race of his season.
Earlier, Qazinform reported XDS Astana Development Team rider Matteo Scalco had finished third at Il Lombardia Under 23, securing a podium place in the prestigious Italian one-day race.
