For the second time in just five days of racing, the sprinters missed an opportunity in the Tour de Langkawi when the breakaway  stayed away in today's stage. The Belkin team of stage 2 winner Theo Bos citicized the lack of cooperation from their rival sprint teams that had seen the Dutch team do most of the work on their own.

The Belkin Pro Cycling Team wasn’t able to get in the mix in today’s fifth stage of the Tour de Langkawi. In a flat 140km ride from Karak to Rembau the bunch was left stunned by a break, just as in the opening stage. Brad White of UnitedHealthcare powered ahead of his fellow two attackers and won. Steven Kruijswijk led Belkin Pro Cycling Team, placing 15th. 

Sports director Michiel Elijzen blamed himself afterwards.

“Rick Flens was pulling at the front of the peloton, but didn’t get any help from the other teams and that’s when I decided to bluff and wait. The other teams did nothing, however, and we all came in too late. It’s a shame, as Theo Bos deserves an opportunity to sprint again.” 

Elijzen was marvelled by the fact that the Belkin Pro Cycling Team was left out in the cold by the other teams in the chase.

“I thought it was weird because Astana also benefits from a sprint. They have shown that they can beat us with Guardini.

“Hopefully the pack now realizes that they need to help as well. They think we are the favourite, but we cannot always do it alone. Especially in short stages, which are difficult to control. The teams are small as well. We have six riders but we can only allow three to chase as Theo and Graeme Brown have to save their energy for the sprint and Steven Kruijswijk has to defend his seventh spot in the GC. Besides that, you cannot keep chasing for few stage as temperatures rise up to 34 degrees celsius and our riders would be burnt out after a couple days. Langkawi is a ten-day stage race!" 

The Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM will give it’s all tomorrow in a nearly 200km flat stage from Melaka to Pontian. Elijzen and his riders are desperately looking to get back to winning again. 

“We’re not satisfied with only one win in five days,” said Elijzen. “We still have five days to go and we really want to add some victories to our tally. Tomorrow we'll try to put someone in the break, but maybe we’ll just take on the fight to make it a sprint. The stages are getting longer now. That should be an advantage for us. That way it’s easier to control as you know for sure that attackers will get tired. That was different in the short stages up until now.”