Ivan Quaranta (Alexia Alluminio) finally got on the winner's podium, but unfortunately a large crash marred the end of stage 7 at the Tour de Langkawi. Jans Koerts (Mercury Viatel) finished second and continues to hold the yellow jersey after the last stage before the mountains.

The 172-kilometer stage from Melaka to Klang (on the outskirts of KualaLumpur) had a profile like a saw blade. None of the rollers wasparticularly long, but with over 1100 kilometers on their legs, and twomajor climbing stages to come, no one was in the mood for a fast run.

One rider did go off the front - Roberto Lochowski of Team Fakta. Mercury and Mapei stayed at the front setting tempo so that his lead never reached more than 2:30, and he was back in the peloton afterapproximately 85 kilometers on his own. A brief flurry of attacks tookplace after Lochowski came back, but the only one to succeed was JacobErker (Team Canada) and the leader of the Asian rider competition Makoto Iijima (Japan), who were away for 22 kilometers - long enough for Erker to take the third and final sprint of the day before the peloton brought them back with 15 kilometers to go.

So, for the seventh consecutive stage, the field set up for a sprint.Mercury and Mapei were at the front setting the pace and the pelotoncarefully negotiated a sharp left with 500 meters remaining to enter the finishing straight. So far a straightforward ending, until the final 100 meters.

This isn't the Giro, is it?

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Quaranta was already out in front, having come off of double stagewinner Enrico Degano's (Ceramiche Panaria) wheel with 150 meters to go.He cruised across the line in front of Koerts and Degano. Meanwhile,about a quarter of the way back riders were starting to hit thepavement. It looked like Alexandre Usov (Gerolsteiner) was the first togo down, after fending off another rider. He was rushed to hospital(later released, but he will not start tomorrow), as was MassimoStrazzer (leg - Mobilvetta Trentini), Razali Shahrulneeza (collarbone -Malaysia) and Febrianto Febrianto (fractured hip - Indonesia). TrentKlasna and Frank McCormack of Saturn both went down but were able to get back on their bikes and finish. 149 riders finished, but at least two of these will probably not start stage 8.

Ivan Quaranta has moved up to second in the overall standings, 41seconds behind Koerts and 1 second ahead of Paolo Bettini (Mapei-QuickStep). Gord Fraser (Mercury Viatel) remains in 4th place, 53 secondsbehind his teammate.

Tomorrow the riders face 154 kilometers, with the final 50 kilometers aCategory 1 climb to the Cameron Highlands.

Race Note:

- Fraser says that his left wrist (injured in a stage one crash) is notimproving. "The doctor says that it is just a strain, but I can't moveit from side to side. We won't know for sure until I get it x-rayed."