D.Z. zones in at Langkawi

Stage 1 results

General classification results

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (VN) – “This was just the beautiful course. It’s probably one of the best time trial courses I’ve done in a long time,” Dave Zabriskie, the opening stage winner of the 2012 Tour de Langkawi, told VeloNews.

Coming into Friday’s time trial in Malaysia’s administrative capital, the Garmin-Barracuda rider was always going to be the odds-on favorite – the question was not ‘would he win?’ but ‘by how much?’

Under a scalding midday sun Zabriskie proved it so, winning the 20.3-kilometer time trial in 24 minutes 34.18 seconds, exactly one minute ahead of two riders from Australian continental team Drapac-Porsche, Adam Phelan and Darren Lapthorne.

Tom Danielson, the team’s leader and 2003 Langkawi champion, managed a highly creditable fourth place by stopping the clock in 25:51, nine seconds ahead of 2010 winner José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli), while another Garmin-Barracuda rider, Australian Nathan Haas, managed ninth place, giving them a trio of men in the top 10.

Realizing life in advertising was nothing like Mad Men and buoyed by the Olympic Games in his Australian hometown of Sydney, Anthony Tan turned his back on a lucrative copywriting career in 2000 in pursuit of something more cerebral. Combining wordsmithing with his experiences as an A-Grade club racer and an underwhelming season competing in Europe, a career as a cycling scribe beckoned… More than a dozen Grand Tours and countless Classics later, it’s where he still is today. He has been a contributor to VeloNews since 2006. In 2010, he won Cycling Australia’s media award for best story. Follow him on Twitter: @anthony_tan

FILED UNDER: Video TAGS: Dave Zabriskie / Tour de Langkawi