Carlos Quintero (Colombia) has made repeated attacks in the Tour de Langkawi as he has desperately tried to get back into the top 10 on GC. Today he finally succeeded when he made it into the day's break to score 9 bonus seconds.

The huge grit and determination of Team Colombia’s Carlos Julian Quintero were finally rewarded in the 9th stage of theTour de Langkawi (Bandar Permaisuri-Kuala Terengganu, 109,7 km): after trying to move on the attack several times in the last few days, the 28-year-old from Medellin finally managed to make the day’s break and take the bonus seconds he needed to move back into the top-10 of the general classification, topped by Iranian Poorseydigolakhour, with just one stage to go.

Theo Bos (Belkin) delivered his fourth sprint victory in this race on the finishing line, beating Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Aidis Kruopis (Orica), while Leonardo Duque bagged another good placement for Team Colombia, taking 7th in the mass dash.

The ninth day of the Asian stage race, once again characterized by the heat (it hasn’t been raining in Malaysia since the race started), was animated by the Escarabajos from the early going: the first riders on the attack were Jeffry Romeroand  Carlos Alzate (Unitedhealthcare), who were reeled in by the bunch at km 20. Right after that, Quintero and Yonathan Monsalve (Neri Sottoli) – 11th and 12th at the start respectively – got clear: the duo got a maximum advantage of about 2 minutes at km 50, when the Team Colombia rider was provisionally virtual leader of the race.

Poorseydigolakhour’s Tabriz team wouldn’t let the escapees gain too much ground, but Quintero still managed to win all the three intermediate sprint on the route, taking 9 bonus seconds that elevated him back into the top 10.

After the peloton regrouped at km 100, Juan Pablo Valencia took his own chance in a 4-man move, and then Jeffry Romero tried again on his own, but neither of the two riders could avoid another mass sprint.

“Carlos strongly believed in his chances to move back into the top 10, and he deserves credit for reaching his goal,” Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi commented. “He shows great commitment as a rider, and always managed to improve himself in the years, so we are particularly happy with his performance. Duque also made a very good job in taking another top 10 in the sprint: we have some of the best pure sprinters in the World here, and taking such results is anything but easy.”

Tomorrow, Quintero will need to keep his eyes open in the final stage, Tasik Kenyir-Kuala Terengganu (114 km): another sprint finish should be in the cards, but three intermediate sprints and little gaps in the overall classification could lead to some final all-in attempts.