Chances of anything significant happening on the last day of the 2003 Tour de Langkawi were slim when the day started. But when race officials neutralized the race two laps into the 12-lap criterium because of threatening skies, Tom Danielson and his Saturn team could sit back and coast, assured that the 24-year-old from Durango, Colorado was going home with a yellow jersey in his suitcase.

Sunday’s racing wasn’t without a bit of controversy, though. Just as they had done on numerous occasions during this 10-day race in Malaysia, Panaria had the strongest lead-out coming home for the finish. So strong in fact, that in the final 100 meters it was two of the orange clad riders, Graeme Brown and Ruben Bongiorno, going head to head for the win. And though Brown had seemed to be the team’s designated leader and already had two stage victories at this year’s race, it was the young Argentinean crossing the line first.

Brown and Bongiorno battle in the sprint...

Photo: Jason Sumner

Afterwards Brown was none to happy with neo-pro teammate.

“He’s an idiot,” said Brown, who was nearly knocked over by Bongiorno just after they crossed the line and was giving Bongiorno an earful in the finish corral.

Bongiorno, the rider that was almost unanimously blamed for the stage 2 crash that took out two-thirds of the field, seemed nonplussed about the second bit of controversy he’d stirred up.

“I was behind Brown like I was supposed to be,” Bongiorno said. “But I managed to keep his speed and to pass him. There wasn’t any designated leader. It was good as long as the team won.”

Whatever the case, all seemed to be patched up when Brown showed up for the post-race press conference, where he tempered his early statement, echoing that win-is-a-win sentiment.

Danielson was quick to credit the work of his teammates.

Photo: Jason Sumner

Meanwhile, Danielson and his Saturn teammates enjoyed a realtively easy day, once the race was neutralized.

“The plan was to have the team on the front and drill it,” explained Danielson. “But as soon as they called the race off, we asked the commisaire if all we had to do is finish 12 laps and they said that was it.”

From then on Danielson and his teammates dropped to the back of the peloton, not wanting to get caught up in any late race mayhem. Saturn even lent a hand to Colombia-Selle Italia’s Heran Dario Munoz, who crashed in one of the sharp corners on the 6.3km circuit that wound its way through downtown Kuala Lumpur.

“We saw him go down and sent Horner and Wohlberg back to make sure he was okay,” Danielson said.

Munoz was fine, and the rest of the race passed without incident. Afterwards Saturn team manger Andrzej Bek predicted that Danielson’s first big win would certainly not be his last.

“He needs to work a lot on his technique and strategy,” he said. “But with his time trial and climbing ability, I think he could just about anything he wants.”

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CLIMBER FOR HIRE
With the climber’s jersey and fourth place overall safely secured, Canadian mountain biker Roland Green said he planned on doing at least one more road race before the fat-tire season kicked off.

“I’ll go to Redlands and battle Saturn again,” said Green, adding that he wasn’t sure who’d he’d be riding with yet. “Not sure. I’m working on getting on with a road team, so if anybody needs a climber they should give me a call.”

NORTH AMERICAN RECAP
With the race neutralized, nothing changed in the overall standings. Gord Fraser was the top placed rider in the stage, coming in sixth in the bunch sprint.

Here’s the final GC placing and time for all the North American riders: Tom Danielson (USA), 1st; Roland Green (Can), 4th at 2:03; Chris Horner (USA), 22nd at 6:01; Seamus McGrath (Can), 23rd at 6:44; Peter Wedge (Can), 57th at 14:45; Phil Zajicek (USA), 75th at 19:36; Cory Lange (Can), 91st at 22:44; Gord Fraser (Can), 97th at 25:26; Eric Wohlberg (Can), 101st at 25:44; Tim Johnson (USA), 106th at 27:15 Bruno Langlois (Can), 120th at 36:34; Alex Lavellee (Can), 121st at 37:02.

JERSEY WINNERS
Yellow (Overall leader): Tom Danielson — The Saturn rider locked up the biggest win of his two-year pro career, finishing nine seconds ahead of Hernan Dario Munoz and taking the overall title.
Green (Points): Graeme Brown — The Aussie finished 15 points ahead of countryman Stuart O’Grady.
Polka Dot (KoM): Roland Green — With nothing on the line today, Green simply needed to finish which he did.
Blue (Top Asian rider): Tomoya Kano — The Japanese national team rider had no trouble maintaining the 20-second lead he took the day before during the Genting Highlands climb.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Colombia-Selle Italia
2. Saturn, at 9:32
3. Lampre, at 10:09
4. Colchon-Relax, at 12:23
5. Formaggi Pinzolo, at 14:24
ALSO
10. Canada, at 18:01