Not happy: McCann looks a bit peeved after missing his TT start
David McCann (RTS Racing Team) has had a frustrating start to the Tour de Langkawi, missing his start time in the opening stage TT after a mechanical problem.
He enjoyed better fortune today, Sunday, in just about missing the pile-up in the finale that brought down a number of riders including one of the favourites Tom Danielson (Garmin Barracuda).
“I was musing how odd it was that Danielson was up mixed in with the middle of the bunch sprint with 2km to go just as he tangled with a Malaysian and went down directly in front of me,” McCann told stickybottle from Langkawi.
“It was one of those moments where your instinct is to brake hard, but experience is whispering that if you do, then you’ll get ploughed from behind. So I gently leaned on the guy next to me and only just got around him without the whole bunch coming down. I think there were a fair few crashes on the run in today so I’m happy to be healthy.”
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The Belfast man had singled out Friday’s opening stage 20.3km TT in Putrajaya as one of his goals of his early season programme but was scuppered by bad luck.
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“I missed my start by over a minute after a pre race mechanical,” he said.
“I was quite up for it, but that’s life. I ended up cruising round to lose a bit of time to better my chance of a successful breakaway sometime over the next nine days.”
McCann’s less than flat out effort meant he ended the TT stage in 123rd; 5:13 down on winner David Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda).
The two stages since - Saturday’s 151km run into Melaka and today’s 187.6km into Parit Sulong – were both flat and fast affairs. They ended in bunch sprints, both won by Italian fastman Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini).
McCann said despite his opening stage plans been ruined by mechanical trouble, he’s feeling good in the “scalding hot” weather and appears to have recovered from his efforts earlier this month in the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman.
The RTS Racing team leader is now 103rd overall; 5:13 down on GC leader Zabriskie. There are six stages remain, with Wednesday’s climb up Genting Highlands set to be the decisive one.
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