There was one rider who seemed to be turning up everywhere at Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi, XDS-Astana's Aaron Gate. It started out with his role as a key part of the lead-out for Matteo Malucelli, winner of three stages, and morphed into a potential GC card when the race headed up the summit finish on Fraser's Hill. Jumping into the sprint role after Malucelli's crash, Gate became the master of the attack as the race roared toward its final destination, Kuala Lumpur.
"I like coming to races like this, because I can fill a lot of roles. The first plan was to get stages with Malucelli, and I think we did some great lead-outs there and ticked that box," Gate told Cyclingnews in somewhat of an understatement. "And then I wanted to have a crack at GC myself, but I knew that if it didn't work out, we had Nico (Vinokurov – who finished fourth overall) waiting in the wings as more of an actual climber.
