Foreign teams hope to race Tour d'Indonesia again
Foreign teams hope to race Tour d'Indonesia again
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar, Bali
"We are coming back next year," Qiu Jijin, team manager of Taiwan-based Giant Asia Racing Team, said.
Giant managed to take three stages thanks to their top riders Iranian Ghader Mizbani and Australian Edmund Hollands, but with only three healthy riders for most of the stages, the Taiwan- based trade team finished in just fifth place in the team classification of the Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia.
Giant had been jolted early when two riders withdrew. It resorted to local cyclists but they had little impact on the team as both crashed out of the tour early. However, the team hopes to be better prepared next year. "We will make better preparations for the tour next year," Jijin said.
The Malaysian contingent arrived with two teams, but in the end it was only its senior team - Malaysia A - that survived through to the final stage and finished a mediocre 14th of 17 teams in the final standings.
Given its challenging route, the next Tour d'Indonesia, should it be held, will likely lure the Malaysian teams to return.
"It's a very challenging tour. It's even a bit harder to tackle than (Malaysia's) Tour de Langkawi," Arsyad Firdaus, Malaysia's team manager, said.
While pushing the more experienced riders to rise to the challenge for the top places, Arsyad was keen on giving his younger riders a chance to develop their cycling toughness. "It is good for our development plan for the juniors," he said.
The Philippines, which was represented by its pro team Pagcor Casino Filipino, also hailed the tour's competitiveness, however they filed complaints about partiality in the judging.
"This (complaint) is not about winning or losing. This is about consistency in imposing the rules," Carslos Luis, a Pagcor official, said.
After seeing Bernardo Luzon win the third stage, the team had to compete with just four riders following the disqualification of Albert Primero from the tour because he was caught drafting (riding in the slipstream) behind public vehicles in the fourth stage.
While conceding to the disqualification, the team complained about late notification, which was announced only at the start of fifth stage which was held after the riders had a one-day break.
Pagcor was still able to show its mettle by finishing in third place behind Greenfields Fresh Milk of the Netherlands and Plygon Sweet Nice of Indonesia.
Greenfields had a double victory with its ace Nathan Dahlberg winning the individual category ahead of local rider Amin Suryana and Wong Ngai-Cing of Hong Kong.
Dahlberg and his team's cruise to victory -- practically sealed as early as the third stage -- has also raised concern about the need to change the sequence of the stages in the tour.
Although he failed to win a stage, Dahlberg kept his pace to victory, benefiting partly from the fact that the tour offered the first two stages with big climbs.
The 1,503-kilometer Tour d'Indonesia from Jakarta to Bali, which encompassed routes in West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali drew a lot of spectators during its 10-day race featuring 84 riders form eight local and seven foreign teams.
Amin's ride to second place behind Dahlberg appeared to attract Giant to hire the Subang-based rider.
Despite failure to win the individual and team titles, Indonesia's riders had something to cheer about with Suwandra, Sansoko Reno Yudo and Rochmat Nugraha emerging as the best three sprinters.
While the enthusiasm of local cycling fans received a thumbs- up, traffic marshaling and media facilities will need more attention from the organizers.