Matteo Malucelli Overcomes Crash Scare to Win Tour de Langkawi Opener
(Kampar, Malaysia, September 27) XDS Astana Team's Matteo Malucelli claimed victory in Stage 1 of the 2026 Le Tour de Langkawi, sprinting to victory in Kampar after 193 kilometers of racing from Shah Alam and taking the race leader's orange jersey.
The win was particularly remarkable given that the Italian sprinter had crashed during a training ride just one day earlier and was sent to hospital for examination, raising doubts about whether he would even start the race.
On a predominantly flat stage featuring only one Category 4 climb early in the day, a large peloton sprint was always the expected outcome. In the final dash to the line, Malucelli outsprinted Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure Cycling Team) and former Giro d'Italia points classification winner Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to secure the first stage victory of LTdL 2026.
The victory earned Malucelli a 10-second time bonus as well as enough points to claim both the overall leader's orange jersey and the sprint classification blue jersey.
Speaking after the stage, Malucelli raised both hands to show reporters the condition of the injuries sustained in yesterday's crash and smiled. "Very good."
Despite the stage win, the Italian revealed that simply finishing the race had been his primary objective when arriving in Malaysia.
"Last year I had a very bad experience here, so my main goal at this year's Tour de Langkawi was simply to finish the race," Malucelli said.
"Just making it to the start line today was already my first objective."
Malucelli also joked about his relationship with Shah Alam, where both his 2025 race-ending crash and yesterday's training accident occurred.
"Shah Alam is not my best place," he said with a laugh. "Last year the same stage, the same place, I crashed…… So please no more stages in Shah Alam."
The reference was to Stage 6 of the 2025 Tour de Langkawi from Shah Alam to Port Dickson, where Malucelli crashed while wearing the overall leader's orange jersey and was forced to abandon the race.
One year later, after suffering another crash on the eve of the event, he returned to claim an emotional victory in what could be described as a perfect redemption story.
The closing kilometers were made even more dramatic when teammate Aaron Gate crashed in the final corner while helping to set up XDS Astana's sprint train.
However, Malucelli insisted the incident did not disrupt his confidence.
"Everybody knows we are a very strong team for the sprint," he said.
"We have Lev Gonov, Gleb Syritsa, Aaron Gate and myself, so it's not easy because everybody look at us, but if i have good legs, i can do a good job even without Aaron."
After Gate's crash, teammate Gleb Syritsa successfully guided Malucelli into position for the final sprint. The Italian later admitted he was not certain he had won until Pickrell acknowledged the result after crossing the finish line.
Elsewhere in the race, Petr Rikunov of Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu Team captured the King of the Mountains jersey, while Nur Aiman Rosli of Terengganu Cycling Team became the first Best Asian Rider classification leader.
The opening stage also saw one of the race favourites, Geoffrey Bouchard of TotalEnergies, abandon the race, providing an early surprise in the general classification battle.
Racing continues tomorrow with Stage 2 from Taiping to the summit finish atop Mount Jerai, widely regarded as the first major test for the overall contenders at this year's Tour de Langkawi.
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