One of the technical aspects that highlighted the Tour of Langkawi It was the one with the points. A bit of all the teams, but some even more, They came here with the specific aim of collecting some precious points for the standings UCI at the expense of partial successes, perhaps. To put it simply: it's better to have three athletes in the overall top spot than to have one in first place on a stage and then nothing else.
The Malay routes did not lend themselves to surprise attacks and blows. And In fact, the Cameron Highland stage decided the overall standings. From that moment on, the positions were frozen. and all the top riders told us that they thought about defending their position rather than attacking the others.
Burgos-Bh, for example, was second in terms of UCI points earned (over 230), behind Poole's DSM. And yet The Spanish team has only put one man in the top five on a stage: Iribar, fifth, in the mountain hamlet.
All in one step
Some teams have set up specific teams for this route. Let's start with theAstana-Qazaqstan, for example, last in the WorldTour ranking.
The Kazakh team came to Malaysia with two climbers, actually a climber and a climber, and then all athletes dedicated to the cause of Gleb Syritsa, the sprinter. They placed Harold Lopez, the grimpeur, in second place in the mountains and then won a stage with the Russian sprinter. They are a WT and couldn't help but aim for success. The problem, or rather problems, is that the Colombian received a 20" time penalty the next day for misconduct in the peloton and plummeted in the standings. The standings were very tight, and he went from second to tenth.
The other problem, the biggest one, is that Astana is very far from the 18th place that allows them to remain in the WT. They are about 2.800 points away from the 18th place which is currently Uno-X and here, as strong as they could have been, there weren't very many points up for grabs. In the stages the first 5 got points and the winner took home 20. A stage of the Tour of Italy for example, it assigns 80 and the first 15 get points, just to give you an idea.
The general classification is more generous, with points up for grabs for the first 40. And for this reason, the Spanish teams, such as Euskaltel-Euskadi, Burgos-Bh, Kern Pharma, all brought riders who were good on the climbs, athletes who after the Cameron Highland stage, were not seen again. But think that In the first 12 there were 8 Spaniards. The idea was exactly to place them there.
The Italian teams
A bit like what they wanted to do VF Group-Bardiani , Corratec-Vini Fantini mostly.
The Tuscan team had Mareczko for the sprints and a man at his side, Masotto, and then riders who without physical problems should have placed in the top 15-20 at Cameron Highlands and therefore in the general classification. Unfortunately, aside from Valerio Conti, 14th, the others failed in their mission. Mareczko went home early, having arrived too late.
This was an important step for Corratec-Vini Fantini. The main goal is to stay in the top 40 teams in the UCI ranking, to keep the hope of going to the Giro d'Italia alive. For next year, in fact, anyone who finishes below this position won't even be eligible for an invitation from the Grand Tours organizers. And for 2026, the bar will be raised even further: they'll need to finish in the top 30. Currently, Corratec is 42nd, about 80 points behind Malucelli's JCL Ukyo team, which is in 40th place.
VF Group-Bardiani is in a better position in the standings, sitting in 28th place, and was able to race a little more freely in search of a stage without the full pressure of points. The primary objective that Donati, sporting director of the Emilian team, confided to us that it was to win at least one stage. And they succeeded.
Where they also failed was in the general classification. A couple of athletes were expected to perform better towards Cameron Highlands, the stage that, as mentioned, would have settled the standings and awarded precious points.
For the Polti-Kometa The Tour de Langkawi was more or less the same as the VF Group: except that they actually had the man to win the general classification and he was Paul Double. English wasn't good, but he thought about it Third to save the day with his fifth place.
Dynamics blocked
This situation indirectly put pressure on the teams, the riders, and affected tactics. It wasn't easy to play for most of the objectives in a single demanding stage (sprinters aside). All this did was... increase the gap between the largest and smallest teams. However, the latter, if well organized, experienced the issue of points a little more calmly.
For example, Team Terengganu, a Malaysian team, the first continental team in the world, and JCL Ukyo in particular have swept the board: for malucelli three first places, two second places, and a fourth (total 95 points). Pesenti finished second overall and third in one stage (160 points).
Tudor had no points issues. DSM-Firmenich, although not well placed in the UCI rankings (it's 17th), fielded a strong team and won the race without too many problems. EF-Easypost may have scored less than expected, but this certainly wasn't the race that would have fixed its position in the UCI rankings. It's not a dire situation, however (it's 12th).
And then the tactics. Think about it. After Cameron Highlands, to keep an eye on the positions, evaluations were even made on the intermediate finishes. And especially the breakaways that started at the start. In fact, time bonuses aside, they all had the same time. With a second, you could move up 6-8 positions.
Accounts, points and calendar
It goes without saying that if some race dynamics sometimes seem blocked, we need to remember these previous situations. And we also need to keep in mind why exotic races, like these in Asia, become crucial for some teams.
For example, from October 9th the show will be staged Taihu Lake, China, which like the Langkawi is a 2.Pro race, that is to say the highest level in terms of points after the WT. Well, at the start there are well 9 professional teams. And this isn't the only race in this part of the planet.
In any case, in a few weeks we will have the definitive 2024 standings and then we will be able to return to doing a complete analysis of points and standings.
