Team dsm-firmenich PostNL Men’s program secure 20th win of the season with Max Poole in Langkawi

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL got the month of October underway in perfect fashion, with Max Poole powering to a reduced group sprint win in the queen stage of Le Tour de Langkawi; their Men’s program’s 20th win of the season.

After promising rides in the opening two sprint stages, the third day of action in Langkawi was one for the climbers, and a day where Team dsm-firmenich PostNL set out their stall to support Max Poole as finisher. A cohesive team effort from everyone saw Poole always well positioned and the team came over the long but steady main climb of the day in a good way and with numbers. Heading onto the second shorter but slightly harder ascent, the team set a good early pace before other squads took over. The strong tempo remained and on the steepest gradients inside the last kilometre Poole attacked, dragging clear a group of three. They were brought back on the rolling descent, but Poole remained calm and kept a cool head, positioning himself for the sprint to the line. Smartly using the downhill section to get momentum, he kicked early and surged past the group, holding on to raise his arms aloft as he crossed the line, celebrating his first pro win. It’s a special occasion for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL who have taken 16 professional wins with riders promoted from their highly successful Development program in 2024 alone.

An elated Poole expressed: “It was quite a straightforward day with how the parcours was, with a flat first 100 kilometres then uphill for the final 70 kilometres. It was really the only opportunity for the climbers here. I have a really good group of people around me; we made a good plan and knew that it was being about patient and waiting until the last kilometre of the climb to make the damage. When there were attacks, I just tried to stay patient until the last moment to then make the difference and then come over the top of the climb with a gap. We worked well together as a trio but the group from behind came back. There were a few teams with a couple of guys, so I just had to pick the right wheel and get a good run to the line. We knew the finish was slowly dragging uphill, but I got a good bit of slipstream and used it to launch early and held on to the finish. I’ve been sprinting quite well the past few months, so I had to back myself. I’m super happy to get my first pro win and the guys did a great job today so thanks to them as well. We’ll approach each day as it comes, and we have some nice sprint opportunities with Casper so we will also focus on them too and try and go for another win there.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West added: “Today was the main chance to shake things up in the GC. We wanted to take some responsibility but the main long climb to Cameron wasn’t too hard. EF controlled and tried to up the pace there, but it was soon clear that the final climb would be the one where the action would be, so we saved our energy for that. The guys did a good job to start forcing the pace at the bottom and began to make it a bit more selective there. Max was patient and made an attack towards the top of the climb. In the end the three of them came back together but he adjusted really well and did a super sprint to take the win so I think we can be really happy with the day.”