By Arman Armero

GENTING HIGHLANDS, Malaysia—Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez of defending champion Diquigiovanni-Androni, the undisputed King of the Mountain here two years ago, returned to the scene of his past triumphs with another impeccable climb to clinch the Petaling Jaya-Genting Highlands Stage 5 in the Le Tour de Langkawi 2009.

Perez, a native of Bucaramanga, Colombia, completed the 102-kilometer journey to Genting Highlands’ peak in two hours, 58 minutes and 56 seconds, a good 23 seconds ahead of second-placer Jai Crawford (2:59:19) of the Australian national team.

Aside from grabbing the King of the Mountain title from Letua’s Jeremy Yates, Perez also dethroned teammate Mattia Gavazzi, who won the first three stages and held the yellow jersey up until Stage 4.

The 25-year-old Gavazzi, who is not known for his climbing skills, retained his title as Sprint King and will still wear the green jersey going into the last two stages.

“I was very confident going into this stage because I’m in good condition. I hope to continue to make a good showing in the last two stages,” said Perez, who has yet to win the tour despite ruling the Genting Highlands stage for the third time.

But yesterday’s grueling climb to the summit enveloped by the cool mountain air also showcased Letua cycling team’s determined bid to keep the blue jersey.

The blue jersey passed from Samai Amira, who topped Stage 4 and emerged as its Best Asian rider to fellow Indon Tonton Susanto, who finished 2:34 off the pace.

“I would like to thank my teammates in Letua. They pushed me to win the blue jersey. Last night, our team set that target and I did my best not to disappoint them,” said Susanto, one of two Indon riders in the multi-race Malaysian cycling team.

Also making it to the top 10 finishers in Stage 5 were Jackson Rodrigues also of Diquigiovanni-Androni (3rd); Frederrik Kessiakoff of Fuji-Servetto (4th); Johann Tschopp of Bbox Bouygues Telecom (5th); Carlos Jose Ochoa of Diquigiovanni-Androni (6th); Janse Van Rensburg of South Africa (7th); Susanto (8th); Lucas Eliser of Garmin Slipstream (9th) and Marchante Gomez of Cervello Test Team (10th).