Sebastian Henao, Ian Boswell, Philip Deignan and Danny Pate all remain well positioned at the Tour de Langkawi after a breakaway success on the fifth day of action.
Much of the 200km trek from Kuala Terengganu to Kuantan was fuelled by a strong tailwind, and 139km were covered during the first three hours of action. Despite that lightning pace, eight riders still managed to spring clear after 55km and were never seen again.
With no-one in the move a threat to the general classification, the peloton allowed them to rack up a whopping 18-minute lead before there was any form of reaction behind. That gap had only dropped slightly when Seo Joon Yong (KSPO) attacked the break and made a solo bid for glory 9km from home.
It was a move that saw the Korean national champion emerge triumphant, and he battled hard to seal his biggest win to date with a 13-second advantage over Jamalidin Novardianto (Pegasus) and four further chasers.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) led the peloton home 13min 30sec behind, with Henao, Boswell, Deignan and Pate all credited with the same time as the yellow jersey holder.
Those results saw Ewan retain his 17-second cushion over Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka) at the top of the overall standings, with Henao, Boswell, Deignan and Pate all sitting pretty just 26 seconds adrift.
Despite his efforts, the day’s stage winner remains over 15 minutes further back.
After the stage, Sports Director Gabriel Rasch was happy with the way events transpired, and Team Sky's position with three days remaining.
He told TeamSky.com: “Everybody knew there was a chance of the break staying away today, and that meant that everybody wanted to get in it. That’s what caused such a fast start – I think 30km were covered in the first half an hour alone.
“Once again, no-one wanted to see any rider from the big teams escape, and it took a long time before eight riders who weren’t any threat managed to slip away. When that occurred, everything settled down and we had a comfortable run to the finish with no problems at all.
“We could see a similar thing again tomorrow because the GC teams will be looking to save their energy for the Queen stage on Saturday. It’s another fairly flat day, and at only 96.6km, it should be fast.
“We need to be alert to any potential threats, but other than that, we’ll be focusing our attentions on Saturday.”
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