It has taken more than a few years to confirm on the promise Jose Rujano made at the 2005 Giro d'Italia. He has spent half a decade in a wilderness of sorts, but his ride today on one of the world's hardest climbs, Genting Highlands, showed that he could very well be back, and a 100% Rujano is a frightening prospect for the upcoming Giro.
Ok, so yesterday I may have understated the gravity of the win for Manan - this was the first EVER stage win for a Malaysian on their home turf in le Tour de Langkawi. If you compare this to the Tour de France it would be like when Maurice Garin won the yellow jersey. A massive accomplishment in front of an ecstatic and patriotic home crowd. Continuing with our theme of all things momentous, today we took the riders from Putrayaja to the famous Genting Highlands . . . if you don't go uphill fast . . . well, this could get a little ugly.
To give our readers a very brief background, today's stage was the climbing stage. Genting Highlands is a leisure resort high in the mountains near Kuala Lumpur. The climb to this location is comparable to Alpe d'Huez only in the jungle and in 65% humidity. . . . if you wanted to try this at home, take your bike and trainer into the bathroom, put 4 phone books under your front wheel; turn the shower on full hot, close the door tightly, put a towel at the base of the door to eliminate draft and seal the room, then go as hard as you can for about 134 kilometers. To say it is a hard stage may be an understatement.
At the bottom of the first major climb riders were looking around expectantly, before all eyes simultaneously settled on Venezuelan climber Jose Rujano. The first thought from the pack was "when will he start to hurt us?" quickly followed by "why did his team decide to bring fluorescent back?" and again followed in quick succession by "and why, since it's 40 degrees, does bike only have one water bottle mount???"... amongst all this thinking, which riders are NEVER supposed to do by the way (either on or off the bike) Rujano actually had enough time to look back, consider his options, and let our a yawn before heading straight up the mountain like the little engine that could.
Sometimes when I think of these epic climbs, I think of making popcorn. The pot starts heating up, but initially all the kernels look the same. Then the pot starts getting a bit warmer and the little kernels start to wiggle and jump around a bit, generally looking uncomfortable. Then gradually more and more of the kernels start to sizzle, and pretty soon they're all jumping around like crazy, screaming at you: 'TURN OFF THE HEAT YOU MAD MAN!! WE ARE GOING TO EXPLODE!!" The carnage is exhilarating and slightly sadistic, but oh so rewarding. The 'rewarding' part in our popcorn case takes place when you settle into the sofa with your bowl of corny goodness, knowing that you're the king of that popcorn mountain. In the cycling world, this sense of satisfaction comes from being the man who kept his cool and watched the other riders popping in your wake. Yellow jersey Tobias Erler was the first kernel to pop on the climb today - it was spectacular and he went backwards very fast.
With about 15 kilometers to go on the climb, Rujano attacked taking a select group of high rollers with him, including Peter McDonald from Drapac, Mizbani from Tabriz, Askari, Gong and Zargari. A small group of 3 riders were working hard to bridge across but they struggled to close the 15 second gap to the riders on the front.
POP! Pete McDonald, Gong, Brandle and Eibegger were next to become crunchy TV snacks. They couldn't hold Rujano and Askari.
Honestly though, Rujano really reminded me of Pantani today. Not only because he's four feet tall and has that "I'm angry about life" look on his face, but also because of his race tactic: "I hammer on the front until there is no one left on my wheel". There was a great quote from Pantani in a recent book that sums this up: "I ride hard so the pain is over faster". Inside 5k's Rujano had about 45 seconds by my watch and I think he even yawned again before. . . Askari POPPED sky high and was caught (and passed) by Gong Hyo Suk.
Rujano took the stage. Near the end I think he started to break a sweat, but for most of the course the man was cool as a cucumber and seriously flying. Rujano has basically won the Tour de Langkawi now, barring serious mechanical or crash.
Stage 6 Results
1 José Rujano Guillen (Ven) ISD - Neri 3:04:21
2 Hyo Suk Gong (Kor) Seoul Cycling 0:02:09
3 Hossein Askari (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical 0:02:36
4 Peter McDonald (Aus) Drapac Porsche Cycling 0:03:22
5 Amir Zargari (IRI) Azad University Iran
General Classification With One Day To Go
1 José Rujano Guillen (Ven) ISD - Neri 21:06:58
2 Hyo Suk Gong (Kor) Seoul Cycling 0:02:07
3 Hossein Askari (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical 0:02:42
4 Peter McDonald (Aus) Drapac Porsche Cycling 0:03:21
5 Amir Zargari (IRI) Azad University Iran 0:03:24
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