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LTdL Stage 7: Brown Grabs His Hat-Trick
Australian Graeme Brown of Ceramiche Panaria bagged his third stage win in the Tour of Langkawi after sneaking past Moreno Di Biase, who celebrated too early, at the finish line here yesterday.
Thinking he had crossed the finish and won Stage 7, Di Biase from Colombia Selle-Italia raised his arms in jubilation but Brown kept his head down and managed to pip his Italian rival to secure a record-breaking seventh stage win in the history of the Tour.
The win was Ceramiche Panaria`s fifth stage win this year and their 22nd on Malaysian soil.
Brown completed the gruelling 167.7km stage from Maran to Raub in a time of 3'45:44. German rider Steffen Radochla from Wisenhoff was third in yesterday's stage.
'The Japanese riders worked hard too. At the end of the stage, I made a little mistake at the last corner. The turn was a little bit of a shocker. I did not expect that and it was definitely a little hectic at that point ? I had to brake hard.
'But I came out fast enough to win the race ahead of Moreno. He threw his hands up first. I was coming in harder than Moreno but I was still not sure that I had won the race until two minutes later,†said Brown.
Japanese Koji Fukushima of Bridgestone Anchor clung on to the leader`s yellow jersey for a fifth consecutive day as he played it safe and followed the others.
The jersey, however, is likely to change hands today when the battle shifts to the treacherous climb up Genting Highlands.
Raub, Malaysia 4/2/2005
