Footon-Servetto rider Matthias Brandle has said that the Spanish team is determined to leave its mark on this year’s Tour de Langkawi, and would target both the flat stages and the overall classification in the race.
Thus far, their sprinter Vidal Celis has clocked up three top-ten placings; second on stage one, and then seventh and sixth on the two days since. He is sixth overall in the general classification.
However twenty year old Brandle – who finished ninth in last year’s world under 23 championship, as well as taking the Austrian Elite time trial crown – said that its other riders would look to do something on Saturday’s stage to the top of Genting Highlands.
“I think that on the sixth stage, in the mountains, the classification will change,” he told Velonation.com on Wednesday morning. “We have a few riders for that – Markus Eibegger, [Rafael] Valls and [Pedro] Merino can all climb well and I can too. I think the three-minute gap to the leaders shouldn’t be a problem.
“Before Saturday, we have to look to go in the breakaways like yesterday. We also have a fast man in the sprint, and we will have to see what the race brings.”