Amin wins 1st stage of Tour d'Indonesia
Amin wins 1st stage of Tour d'Indonesia
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Lembang, West Java
Amin Suryana of Indonesia struck early in the opening stage of the Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia from Jakarta to Lembang on Monday, as race participants voiced concern over the sloppy handling of security along the race course.
Amin, riding for the Sinar Sentosa team, pulled away from Stig Dam and Nathan Dahlberg of the Netherlands-based Greenfields Fresh Milk team in the last 15 kilometers of the stage. He covered the 178.6-kilometer route in a time of five hours, four minutes and 35 seconds.
Dam of Denmark finished in second place in 5:05.50, followed by Dahlberg of New Zealand in 5:09.00.
Despite a good showing in last year's Tour d'ISSI, where he finished in third, Amin's opening stage win surprised many people given the number of strong riders in the event, including Wong Kam-Po and Ghader Mizbani.
"I didn't feel any pressure in pushing ahead in the final 15 kilometers of the race," said the 27-year-old rider following the stage.
Amin also took the early lead in the race for the King of the Mountain title, after tackling the 30-kilometer climb from the exit point in Subang to the entrance gate of the Tangkuban Perahu crater. Stig Dam and Amin's teammate Mumuh Muksin trail in second and third respectively in the King of the Mountain title chase.
Four of the nine total stages of the tour will feature climbing sections, and the Jakarta-Lembang boasted the longest climb, which contributed to the numerous riders who pulled out before the finish line.
Twenty-nine of 84 riders failed to finish the stage and two of them, according to race director Sofyan Ruzian, were disqualified from the rest of the tour because they stopped riding before completing at least 50 percent of the stage.
The opening stage started at City Hall in Jakarta. The riders toured through different areas of the city, and traffic was blocked off to give way to the peloton.
However, in some areas the authorities failed to block off the traffic completely, forcing the riders to slow down and make their way through busy roads.
Riding out of Bekasi, the peloton began to disperse as riders from Agcor Casino Filipino tried to break away from the main pack.
Other riders soon followed and soon Amin Suryana found himself in a fight against Nathan Dahlberg, Stig Dam, Ryan Ariehan of the Indonesian national team, Kazakhs Vyacheslav Dyadichkin of Plygon Sweet Nice and Llyod Reinante of Pagcor.
Dahlberg raced clear five kilometers after Subang, but he was eventually reeled in by Amin and Dyadichkin. At the rugged Ciater pass, with scores of locals looking on from the fruit stalls lining the road, Amin pulled away in an apparently decisive break.
He lumbered steadily up the steep, winding road. He made a final sprint to the finish line, raising his hands in triumph to the cheers of spectators.
Stig Dam finished one minute and 15 seconds behind Amin, while Dahlberg crossed the finish line almost five minutes behind the winner.
"I'd love to win the stage. Still, it is a good result. I was caught up out there. I was tired. It was an incredibly long and tiring race. There are a lot of turns and climb sections," Dahlberg said, adding that he was enjoying his first tour in Indonesia.
One rider heading for the finish line almost took a wrong turn due to a lack of directions from race marshals.
Complaints about security were also raised by the Malaysian team, which saw its riders finish out of the top 10.
"Complaints are naturally unavoidable, particularly on the first day of a race," Jamaluding Mahmood, the international commissaire assigned by the Union Cycliste Internationale to supervise the tour, said.
Meanwhile, race director Sofyan pledged better handling of tour marshaling to ensure the safety of riders in the next stages.
The second stage will take the riders from Bandung to Tasikmalaya on Tuesday, covering a distance of 119.8 kilometers.