Julius van den Bergh (EF Education-Easy Post) had his best result of the season on stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de Langkawi, finishing second behind Lionel Taminiau (Alpecin-Desseuninck), but not without heartfelt congratulations.

Second place is good, but also difficult.

"I was on full throttle to the finish line and felt I had good legs," Van den Berg told Cycling News in the Krim.

"Because in sprints I'm not usually the fastest guy.

The Dutch rider made a bold move, jumping out of the lead pack with around 3km to go and initially going it alone.

"I had a nice gap. Only Lionel came to me and I knew he was fast and I knew him. But I thought I might be able to do a long sprint. But I didn't win today." You don't get many chances like this, but there are still a lot of stages left."

"Let's hope we can win as a team, two second places ...... It means nothing."

Van den Berg's runner-up finish follows teammate Hugh Carthy's second place finish in the third stage of the eight-day Malaysian tour, and second overall. Van den Berg and his team clearly want more than that.

Still, this is Van den Berg's first podium of the year. The 25-year-old, who usually works for his teammates, tried to make the most of his position in the unusual braking of 11 riders. Until stage 5, a small team break had formed and they all stayed behind to catch it, but this race was dominated by the six teams competing in the World Tour.

On Saturday, however, braking by the smaller teams was kept in check until after the Category 2 climb just over 60 km into the race.

"I talked to the DS' team and they thought it was an opportunity to get into the break early because the climb is hard to control and the stronger riders usually get into the break. So we tried, but it took us quite a while."

The breaking came after the climb (not during it), but its effects were still present, allowing the strong group in front to react.

He improved his chances of winning by launching a late attack with 3km to go and finishing with Taminiau, but again he was not the fastest and had to settle for second place despite his well-timed move. It's better than nothing," he said. But you want to win now that you're in second place."