Allan Peiper is thrilled by David Zabriskie’s stage win at the Le Tour de Langkawi 2012
David Zabriskie had to wait seven months to taste the victory since his second stage win at the Tour de France 2010.
He was a part of Team Garmin-Cervelo that succeeded during the 23 kilometre team’s time trial stage of the race on July 3rd, 2011.
The American shined during the 20.3 kilometres opening stage of the Le Tour de Langkawi and claimed the top spot.
David was riding his first race of the new season and he never thought it could get better than that.
He crossed the finish-line in a fastest time of 24 minutes and 34 seconds and overcame Adam Phelan and Darren Lapthorne with a margin of more than a minute.
The 33-year-old won the USPRO National Time Trial Championships in the 2011 season. He also bagged the fourth stage at the Tour of Romandie along with the sixth stage victory at the Tour of California in the previous season.
He noted, “It feels pretty good to be a winner again. I didn’t know what to expect but looking at the course and the smooth pavement, I was pretty excited. I didn’t really have confirmation of the times until the race was over”.
Allan Peiper, the Sports Director for Team Garmin-Barracuda, was impressed by his young gun’s performance.
Peiper cited that it is never easy to claim a stage win with a huge difference of one minute, especially when the stage is only 20.3 kilometres long.
The cyclist had a lightning start to the race which is probably the main reason behind his unbelievable performance during the contest.
Zabriskie’s average speed during the opening stage was 49.57 kilometre per hour which is an impressive effort.
Allan cited that, “In the last couple of years, Canada was the last race for many American riders. It may be different this year with the Tour of Lombardy being close to the world championship. It’s something new for riders to start at the very end of February, far away from Europe”.
Defending Zabriskie’s lead throughout the ten stages of the Malaysian race is a challenging goal for Team Garmin-Barracuda.
However, Pieper is optimistic that the team will perform well as a unit to claim its first overall win of the season.
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