After sprinting to second on the opening day with Casper van Uden, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL aimed to go one-better on Monday in the second stage at Le Tour de Langkawi. Following a similar pattern to the opening stage, a breakaway went clear but on the mostly flat roads the peloton was always in control and the catch was made at ten kilometres to go. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL bided their time and moved up together as a unit inside three kilometres to go, bringing Van Uden forward. It was a hectic run-in but last lead-out Niklas Märkl managed to find a gap and brought Van Uden to the fore with around 300 metres to go. However, some riders jumped from behind and Van Uden got swamped on both sides and was unable to launch from Märkl’s wheel when he wanted to, ultimately going on to take tenth on the stage. Behind, there was a large crash in the group but all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders came through unscathed.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West expressed: “Again today we wanted to go for it in the sprint with Casper. We once more made sure that the right kind of break went but in the end it was quite a controlled race and some other teams took it up in the chase. We prepared for the final and pushed on at a good moment. We made some mistakes in the late final but Niklas was able to launch Casper into the last 300 metres, but we waited a bit too long in the wheels and we got swamped from behind and couldn’t get out to go for it after that really. There are still lots of chances here for us and we’re motivated to get on that top step in the sprint, but firstly tomorrow we take on the main GC day.”