As expected, South African David George easily maintained his leadership of the 11th Tour de Langkawi on Saturday, with just one day remaining in the 10-day race. He cruised to 19th place on the completely flat 16.2km course, 77 seconds slower than the stage winner, Ukrainian Sergiy Matveyev of Panaria-Navigare.

The only significant changes on GC came from the riders taking seventh and eighth place in the TT: Franceco Bellotti of Crédit Agricole moved up to second place ahead of fellow Italian Gabriele Missaglia of Selle Italia, who dropped to third overall, while Missaglia’s Colombian teammate José Serpa rose from eighth to sixth. At the same time, Navigator Insurance’s Casar Grajales claimed fourth place on GC from Selle Italia’s Walter Pedraza after riding the TT 41 seconds faster than his fellow Colombian.

Stage winner Matveyev, 31, who moved up to 15th place overall, has now taken all five of his career victories in time trials: He won the 2005 and 2004 editions of the Italian season-closing Florence-Pistoia TT, took the 2003 Ukraine national TT title ahead of former world champion Serhey Honchar, and in 2003 won the TT stage of the Circuit des Mines in France.

On Saturday, he averaged almost 50 kph on the 16.2km panhandle-shaped course in Melaka, beating runner-up Davis McCann, an Irishman on the Giant-Asia squad, by 32 seconds, with Dutchman Stef Clement of Bouygues Telecom another four second back in third. Bernard Van Ulden of Navigators, who finished third in Thursday’s stage 7, made another fine performance by taking fourth place in the TT, only 41 seconds slower than Matveyev.

All that remains before George succeeds his South African teammate Ryan Cox as Tour de Langkawi winner is about 75 minutes of racing on Sunday in the closing Kuala Lumpur criterium.Results Stage 9 -Melaka Individual Time Trial
1. Matveyev, Sergiy (UKR), Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 19:39.96
2. McCann, David (IRL), Giant-Asia 20:12.73
3. Clement, Stef (NED), Bouygues Telecom 20:16.90
4. Van Ulden, Bernard (USA), Navigators Insurance 20:21.66
5. Schmidt, Torsten (GER), Wiesenhof Akud 20:22.11
6. Poilvet, Benoit (FRA), Credit Agricole 20:30.06
7. Bellotti, Francesco (ITA), Credit Agricole 20:30.21
8. Serpa, José (COL), Selle Italia Diquigiovanni 20:33.40
9. Clancy, Edward (GBR), Great Britain 20:34.07
10. Lemoine, Cyril (FRA), Credit Agricole 20:39.82
11. Walters, Mark (CAN), Navigators Insurance 20:41.39Overall
1. George, David (RSA), South Africa 26h43:55
2. Bellotti, Francesco (ITA), Credit Agricole, at01:52
3. Missaglia, Gabriele (ITA), Selle Italia Diquigiovanni, at 01:56
4. Grajales, Cesar (COL), Navigators Insurance, at02:31
5. Pedraza, Walter (COL), Selle Italia Diquigiovanni, at 03:11
6. Serpa, José (COL), Selle Italia Diquigiovanni, at 04:20
7. Elias Galindo, Jose (ESP), Relax-Gam, at04:41
8. Lefevre, Laurent (FRA), Bouygues Telecom, at04:46
9. Sharman, Robin (GBR), Recyling.Co.Uk, at04:57
10. Poilvet, Benoit (FRA), Credit Agricole, at05:15
11. Raisin, Saul (USA), Credit Agricole, at07:41
12. Walters, Mark (CAN), Navigators Insurance, at 08:30