Saturn’s plan all along, if it worked, was to have Tom Danielson sporting the yellow jersey come the final day of the 2003 Tour de Langkawi. It just wasn’t supposed to happen this early.

But following a huge pile-up 20 meters from the 1km-to-go mark during stage 7 on Thursday, Danielson moved up one place in the standings, and is now the overall leader here in Malaysia. The jump in placing came at the expense of Danielson’s Saturn teammate Nathan O’Neill, who got caught up in the crash, went down hard, and lost 48 seconds to the main field. If the crash had happened within the 1km mark, O’Neill would have been granted the same time as stage winner Graeme Brown, who took his second victory in three days.

Brown was untouchable at the finish.

Photo: Jason Sumner

“The amateurs were sprinting like crazy for 50th place then they all toppled in front of me going 60k,” lamented O’Neill, about the 196km run west from the coastal city of Kuantan to the middle of the country in Bentong. “It happened so quick there was nothing I could do. There was some Iranian wanker bouncing off guys, but I should have known better than to be up there.”

It was the second time O’Neill had been involved in a crash at this year’s TdL. On stage 2 he went down along with two-thirds of the field in the final sprint to the line, and got stabbed in the leg by his chainring. Thursday O’Neill suffered a nasty gash in his left elbow.

“It’s right down to the bone and there’s no skin to pull over the top because it’s on the joint so they’ve just packed gauze in it and bandaged it up,” said O’Neill of the injury that doctors were unable to stitch up. “But it’s cool. I’ll be fine.”

Now Saturn’s hopes will rest with Danielson the rest of the way. The 24-year-old started his stay in Malaysia with a third-place finish in the opening day time trial, then moved up to second on Wednesday when Canadian Roland Green flatted late in the race and was unable to catch the peloton before the finish.

“This definitely isn’t how we wanted things to go,” said Danielson, moments after pulling on the race’s yellow leader’s jersey. “The last 5 kilometers are the hardest part of these stages. It’s a good thing I started as a mountain biker. I’m used to dodging stuff.”

Brown, meanwhile, was battling his own problems on this day. The Panaria rider was suffering stomach problems and finally had to stop and “drop my knicks” on the side of the road.

“I saw the race doctor about 15 times today,” he said. “I’ve never stopped to get off my bike before, but at 100 kilometers to go the pain in my stomach was so bad I had to get off and have a nature call.”

After downing some antacid, Brown finally came around and was back near the front as the race neared the finish. The first order of business was reeling in the day’s most prominent breakaway, a four-rider effort that’s advantage peaked at 4 minutes with 25km to go. For a few fleeting moments it looked like this move might actually stick. But like the previous five days, the peloton picked up the pace just in time, and pulled the runaways back with 3km to go.

From there it was all Brown, as the Aussie blasted away from countryman Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole) coming down the finish straightaway.

“The team was awesome today,” said Brown who topped second-place finisher O’Grady by at least a bike length. “Sergiy [Matveyev] did his job before peeling off for Brett [Lancaster]. He kept it so fast no-one was coming around us.”

The 10-day, 1343.5 km race continues Friday with the shortest stage this year, an 112.5km trip from the Telekom Malaysia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to Seremban.

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O'Neill gets cleaned up.

Photo: Jason Sumner

NORTH AMERICAN RECAP
Outside of Danielson’s ascension to the top of the leader board, the day’s best effort belonged to Canada’s Gord Fraser, who finished eighth in the sprint.

Like O’Neill, Tim Johnson went down in the crash, losing 1:08 after having to get a bike change. Others who also lost time were Saturn’s Phil Zajicek (0:10), and team Canada’s Peter Wedge (0:10), Alex Lavellee (0:10) Bruno Langlois (0:44), and Seamus McGrath (0:44). That left three North Americans in the top 15 overall: Danielson (USA), 1st; Eric Wohlberg (Can), 2nd at 0:03; and Chris Horner (USA), 15th at 0:38.

GOOD ODDS?
Danielson thinks he’s got more than a fair shot at doing well on the stage 9 climb up into the Genting Highlands, which will almost surely decide the overall outcome of the race. Some of that confidence can be traced to his effort at last year’s Mount Washington Hill Climb, when he broke the course record — held at the time by Tyler Hamilton — by a minute.

“They’re almost identical,” Danielson said of the two hors categorie ascents. “That’s why stage 9 here has been a goal of mine since last year.”

CAUSE AND EFFECT
It’s tough to pinpoint a single reason for the rash of crashes at this year’s Tour de Langkawi, but at least some point to the large range of experience in the field. Mixed in with seasoned European squads like Credit Agricole are a host of national teams with a least a few very green riders.

The stage 8 profile.

“That’s definitely got to have something to do with it,” said O’Neill himself a crash victim twice at this year’s race.

Added Saturn teammate Tim Johnson, “It was amateur hour out there today.”

JERSEY UPDATE
Yellow (Overall leader): Tom Danielson — The Saturn rider jumped up one place after teammate Nathan O’Neill crashed and fell from 1st to 9th in the GC.
Green (Points): Graeme Brown — The Aussie extended his lead over Stuart O’Grady to 11 points after his second stage win in three days.
Polka Dot (KoM): Roland Green — The Canadian remained 11 points in front of Italian Fortunato Baliani (Formaggi Pinzolo).
Blue (Top Asian rider): Hossain Askari — The Iranian upped his advantage over Tonton Susanto from 0:01 to 0:11, after Susanto got caught up in the late crash.

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Saturn
2. Colombia-Selle Italia, at 1:17
3. Panaria, at 1:22
4. Relax-Fuenlabrada, at 2:06
5. Domina Vacanze, at 2:10
ALSO
18. Canada, 4:51

WHAT’S NEXT
Stage 8
Kuala Lumpur to Seremban: 112.5 km
Stage 8 begins at the Telekom Malaysia headquarters near downtown Kuala Lumpur, the travels a relatively short 112.5kms. There are three climbs, but none over a category 2, meaning another sprint finish is probably on the horizon. This will be the first time the race has ever finished in Seremban.