The stage race Tour de Langkawi has come to an end in Kuala Lumpur. The winner of the final 8th stage was XDS Astana Team rider Aaron Gate, who attacked from the group of favorites with 4 km to go and outsprinted Aivaras Mikutis at the finish line.
“A wonderful way to finish the Tour de Langkawi for us. The main goal before the start of the stage was to try to get Nicolas onto the podium in the General Classification. We planned to attack together in the finale, but we had to spend a lot of energy earlier on the climbs, which turned out to be tougher than expected. With one kilometer to the top, I attacked to create a small gap, but the pace was so high that it was difficult to make a difference. After the climb it was hard to do anything in GC, so with 4 km to go, the situation developed where I could try for the stage win – the peloton was small, the pace dropped, and there was one rider left ahead from the early breakaway. I decided it was the perfect moment and went for it. A Tudor rider followed me, and when he counterattacked with one kilometer to go, I just gave 100% to close it and launch my sprint. Honestly, I really wanted to win here, so I’m happy I got the chance and made the most of it”, – said Aaron Gate.
This is Aaron Gate’s fourth victory of the 2025 season.
Kazakh rider Nicolas Vinokurov of XDS Astana Team took 4th place overall, achieving the most significant result of his professional career.
“First of all, I want to thank the whole team for this week in Malaysia. The guys did an incredible job, helping me on every stage – Alex and Anton worked hard every day at the front, chasing breakaways and controlling the race, while Lev and Aaron stayed close to me in the finales. So this result was only possible thanks to them. In the end, we had a great week: four stage wins with Matteo and Aaron, and I finished 4th overall and won the white jersey of best Asian rider. Of course, it was a pity that Matteo crashed and had to abandon, but we managed to keep the team spirit high and did our best. I can say I’m very happy with my result. I feel I’ve made a big step forward this year – the Vuelta a España gave me great momentum, and a result like today gives me extra motivation to keep working hard”, – said Nicolas Vinokurov.
