Matt Brammeier on the podium at the conclusion of the Tour de Langkawi where he won the mountains classification.
By Gerard Cromwell
Finishing safely in the bunch at the end of today’s tenth and final stage, Matt Brammeier has sealed victory in the King of the Mountains classification at the Tour of Langkawi today as Andrea Guardini of Astana won a mass sprint finish into Kuala Terranganu.
Riding his first race in the colours of the Synergy Baku team, Brammeier has given the squad something to smile about from day one, when he finished second on the opening stage.
Since then he has given the Azeri team plenty of publicity with daily visits to the podium.
“I came painfully close on that first day to my first big professional win,” Brammeier admitted as he recalled how a bout of cramp left him unable to react to an attack by Colombian Duber Quintero in the closing kilometres of stage one and saw him finish second on the day.
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“It’s something I'm sure will eat at me for some time. But I'm happy I can go home with the King of the Mountains jersey.”
Having taken the lead in the mountains competition on that opening stage, Brammeier has kept the red jersey ever since, with some impressive riding by his Synergy Baku teammates also helping the Irish champion steal a few points from the other contenders during the race.
“I'm really happy with the team,” Brammeier said.
“It really is a great group of riders and hard working staff and all of the guys supported me 100pc all week. We worked hard each day to defend the jersey and I tried to pay the guys back some days during the lead-outs on the sprint stages.”
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Not a pure climber, Brammeier knew he would struggle on the toughest climb of the race, the hors category ascent to Ghenting Highlands on stage four. So he set about racking up the points by getting into breakaways and contesting the sprints at the top of the smaller climbs most other days.
“The jersey actually came as a bit of a hindrance during the race, when trying to go in breakaways, so I had to make sure I kept it all the way and made up for those lost opportunities.”
Brammeier has been aggressive throughout the 2.HC race and spent three days in a row in the early break.
The tactic paid dividends and also saw him rack up enough points in the intermediate sprint competition to wear the blue jersey of points leader for a couple of days.
“I'm really pleased with how I’ve managed to come out of my off season and be in really good shape already," he said.
"I changed a few small things this year with my training and I think that's helped me get that little bit more out of myself. It’s satisfying to see the hard work I’ve put in equate to good riding and I'm pretty happy with my first race of the year.
"It's always good to start the season on a good note with some good results and something to look back on and I'm confident I'm in a good place to have a great year.”
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