By Arman Armero

BANDAR BARU BANGI, Malaysia?Indonesian rider Samai Amari of the Malaysian Letua Cycling Team stole the thunder from three-stage winner Mattia Gavazzi of Diquigiovanni-Androni to claim the Melaka-Bandar Baru Bangi Stage 4, sparking a mild shake-up of the overall standings in the Le Tour de Langkawi 2009 here.

Amari, a native of Surabaya, Indonesia, outsprinted Gavazzi in the last 300 meters to put himself in the record books as the first Asian to win in a bunched finish in the Langkawi tour.

And by doing so,  Amari also grabbed the blue jersey from Kazakhstan?s Dmitriy Gruzdev as the Best Asian Rider after a grueling 221-kilometer ride that featured two climbs, the last a 459-meter ascent to the summit of Genting Peres, some 50-plus km before the finish.

The 28-year-old Amari dashed home to the finish line in five hours, 15 minutes and 09 seconds, with Gavazzi half a bike behind for second, and Nolan Hoffman of South Africa at third.

Letua actually sent two of its riders to the podium, as Jeremy Yates,  a rider from New Zealand,  ruled the Genting Peres mountain passes to wrest the King of the Mountain polka dot jersey from South Africa. 

Yates? feat, together with that of Samai, put Letua as the first Asian team to win a bunched finish.

Gavazzi retained his hold on the yellow jersey, bucking a broken cable and flat tire in the early kilometers to keep pace with Amari and the rest of the sprinters going into the finish.

?It was a difficult race from the start. I had mechanical problems with my bike but I?m just happy that I recovered,? Gavazzi said.

But for Amari,  winning Stage 4 was a fulfillment of a personal mission.   

?I wanted to prove that the best Asian rider is from the team Letua.  This is a happy day for the team and for Asia,? said Amari through an interpreter. ?But tomorrow [today], I think I will help my teammate Tonton [Susanto] to win this blue jersey because I?m not very confident of winning the next stage.?

Amari was referring to the killer Petaling Jaya-Genting Highlands Stage 5, the 102-km ?make or break? stage which will separate the stout-hearted from the pretenders and could likely determine the winner of this year?s Tour.

After a relatively  flat ride from Petaling Jaya to the second intermediate sprint in Gombak,  the cyclists will face their biggest test in the Genting Sempah,  the torturous climb into the summit of Genting Highlands.  Here, both the yellow jersey winner and the King of the Mountain will be severely tested, while the climbers on the pack are expected to emerge to challenge the frontrunners.