Kenny Van Hummel (Androni-Venezuela) overcame the adversity he has faced since the demise of his previous Vacansoleil team when he took his first win for his new team in the sixth stage of the Tour de Langkawi. The Dutchman was the fastest in the bunch sprint that ended the race after an extremely aggressive and fast start to the race while Mirsamad Poorseyedigolakhour (Tabriz) finished safely in the bunch to defend his overall lead.

When it was announced that the Vacansoleil-DCM team would fold at the end of last season, one of the riders who struggled to find a new home was one of the team's marquee sprinters Kenny Van Hummel. He had to wait until very late in the year before Androni-Venezuela manager Gianni Savio threw him a lifeline as he wanted to internationalize his team by adding more riders from Northern Europe.

Van Hummel got his time with his new team off to a difficult start when he was involved in the big crash that brought down most of the sprinters in the second stage of the Tour de Langkawi and for a few hours his further participation in the Malaysian sprinter festival was uncertain. He decided to stay on and battled his way to the top of Genting Highlands just two days later.

Today he got his reward for overcoming all that adversity when he won the sixth stage of the race. When the flat race all came down to a  bunch sprint, he emerged as the fastest when he held off Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Ken Hanson (UnitedHealthCare) in the final dash to the line.

The sprint came at the end of a race of two halves. The first one and a half hour was raced at an impressive speed and the riders did more than 70km before the day's breakaway was finally allowed to take off. When it finally happened, a bit of reshuffling took place but it all came back together inside the final 30km of the stage.

After two successful breakaways in the first half of the race, the sprinters left nothing to chance and set up a bunch sprint in which Van Hummel proved that he still knows how to win bike races.

The finale was not without its drama, however, as a crash inside the final 10km brought down 2nd placed Merhawi Kudus (MTN-Qhubeka). The Eritrean faced a hard chase to get back to the peloton which was preparing the sprint at full speed but he finally made the junction, thus defending his 2nd place.

For overall leader Mirsamad Poorseyedigolakhour, it was a calm day and he again defended his 8-second lead over Kudus. Tomorrow he faces the longest stage of the race which takes the riders over 230.1km from Kota Tinggi to Pekan. Apart from an early category 4 climb, it is entirely flat and could give the sprinters another chance to shine.

A flat stage

The Tour de Langkawi entered its second half with the longest stage so far. The riders travelled 199.1km from Melaka to Pontian but apart from two small category 4 climbs, they were entirely flat and few expected that the sprinters would miss out two days in a row.

That certainly didn't dampen the spirit of the many attackers and the race was off to a very animated start. The first two try their hand were embattled GC rider Natnael Berhane (Europcar) and Yonathan Monsalve (YellovFluo) who were joined by sprinter Carlos Alzate (UnitedHealthCare).

Constant attacks

The trio were back in the bunch after 5km of racing and from there the riders kept attacking in both sides of the road, with no one being able to take off. The peloton raced at an impressive speed as the riders kept reeling in new attacks.

After 37km, the race was still all together when Carlos Quintero tried an attack that looked promising for a while. However, there was no glory for the Colombia rider and things were back together when the riders reached the site of the first intermediate sprint at the 43.8km mark.

Manan wins the first sprint

Local sprint hero Anuar Manan (Terengganu) beat Kruopius, Hassan Suhardi (Malaysia), and his teammate Harrif Saleh to add a few points to his tally. The riders covered exactly 50km in the very fast first hour where they had generally enjoyed a tailwind.

Monsalve made another attempt to get clear but again there was no luck. Instead, things got dangerous for race leader Poorseyedigolakhour when fourth placed Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) took off with the very active Carlos Quintero.

Chaves is caught

Poorseyedigolakhour was quick to let his sprinter Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz) cover the move and even though Adiq Othman (Terengganu) bridged across the presence of Chaves meant that it was doomed. At km 54, things were again back together.

The next attempt was launched by Morgan Lamoisson (Europcar) and Luigi Miletta (YellowFluo) who didn't get anywhere and so things were back together for the first KOM at km 57.5. Mohd Saiful (Terengganu) beat his compatriot Fauzan Lutfi (Malaysia), and Lamoisson at the top.

The break takes off

After 69km, things were still all together but when Yannick Martinez (Europcar) and Elchin Asadov (Synergy Baku) took off, the peloton finally decided to slow down. After 2.5km of riding, the front duo was already 2.05.

However, the escape had little chance of success and as Martinez is Europcar's sprinter, the Frenchman was asked by his sports director to wait for the peloton. This left Asadov as the lone leader and he was 3.40 ahead at the 79km mark.

The chase gets organized

The gap came up to 4.20 when the YellowFluo team of sprinter Francesco Chicchi started to chase and they kept the gap stable around that mark for a little while. They got some assistance from Belkin who were keen to set Theo Bos up for the sprint and a little later Andrea Guardini's Astana team also started to contribute.

On the second climb, Asadov took maximum points while KOM leader Matt Brammeier (Synergy Baku) led his teammate Daniel Klemme over the top to extend his lead in that competition. The gap had now come down to 3 minutes and it kept falling.

Rabou on a mission

As the riders neared the second intermediate sprint, points leader Thomas Rabou and his OCBC teammate Eric Sheppard attacked and they were joined by Ni Yi Hui (Giant-Champion). They accomplished their mission as Rabou, Ni, and Sheppard crossed the line in that order behind Asadov.

Asadov decided that he had had enough and waited for the peloton but the three chasers decided to continue and were now the leaders of the race. At the 116km mark, they were 2.10 ahead of the peloton that was led by YellowFluo.

Rabou accomplishes his mission

The gap reached 2.40 but when Orica-GreenEDGE, Astana, and Belkin started to combine forces, the peloton started to get closer. With 40km to go, the front trio were 1.30 ahead but they accomplished their mission when Rabou beat Ni and Sheppard in the final intermediate sprint while Gianni Bellini led the peloton across the line for YelloFluo less than 2 minutes later

The gap was now decreasing rapidly and with 21km to go, the trio was finally absorbed. However, Lauzan Lutfi still had a hope that the sprinters could be denied and he took off on his own.

Flat tire for Martinez

12km from the finish, he was 15 seconds ahead but Astana was now going full gas and with 10km to go, it was back together. Martinez had back luck as he had a flat tire just as Belkin and Colombia put down the hammer.

Kudus had a scare when he crashed and he faced a hard chase to get back. Colombia, Belkin, and Tinkoff-Saxo fought for position on the front while the Eritrean battled his way back to the peloton inside the final 3km.

In the end, it all came down to the expected bunch sprint and here Van Hummel proved his speed when he beat Kruopis and Hanson into the minor positions.