Indonesian riders sweep to victory in sixth stage of tour

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Local cyclists finished the sixth stage of the Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia in grand style with Ryan Ariehan of the Indonesian National Team emerging as the winner on Sunday.

Ryan chalked up a time of 5:07:01 in the stage which was 234 kilometers long, the longest so far in the tour, between Madiun and Surabaya.

His time was 1 minute 27 seconds ahead of the nine-member chasing pack, which included Raziff Jaafar of the Malaysian National Team B as the only non-Indonesian in the top ten of the stage.

Nunung Burhanudin of Benteng Muda Tangerang and Abdul Rachman of the Plygon Sweet Nice B followed behind in a distant second and third place to complete the stage podium for the Indonesians.

Jaafar was in fourth, followed by Iwan Setiawan (Custom Cycling Club), Yudhahantara (Sinar Sentosa Purwakarta), Aang Juanda (Custom Cycling Club), Suwandra (Indonesian National Team), Toni Lukman (Benteng Muda Tangerang) and Rochmat Nugraha (Indonesian National Team).

Seeing that his rivals were trailing far behind, Ryan let his bike ease toward the finish line in a flaunting manner with his hands tightening his jersey zipper and raising them high in triumph.

The local sweep came after they were denied a stage win in the last four stages.

"We just competed at PON (National Games). That might have been our peak. It proved quite difficult for us to make a quick recovery in such a short time," said Ryan about generally lackluster performance by the local riders before the sixth stage.

Ryan helped the West Java team win a silver in the road race at the PON in Palembang, South Sumatra, last month.

"Hopefully, the sixth stage victories will motivate us to improve further in the next stages," said the 25-year-old.

Ryan's teammate Suwandra proved the best sprinter, grabbing the highest points in the stage which provided two designated sprint points and on both occasions the local riders also showed their domination.

On the first occasion, Suwandra led Ydhahantara and Hintao Youthaporn of Thailand while in the second he was second and Yudhahantara third behind Nunung Burhanudin.

Youthaporn was handed a 100 Swiss franc fine and his cash prizes were withheld after he failed to attend the podium ceremony.

After the first six kilometers of the stage, a number of riders including Ryan made a breakaway. After struggling against a strong headwind in Caruban, about 15 kilometers later, the riders had to cope with the searing heat around Jombang, about the stage's halfway point, in 37 Celsius heat.

After backing up Suwandra in the sprints, Ryan put the hammer down and built his lead to around six minutes ahead of his chasers. The chase pack could only reduce the gap but they were unable to catch up with him.

Meanwhile, the top three in the general stage classification did not change with yellow jersey holder Nathan Dahlberg of Greenfields Fresh Milk, second-placed Amin Suryana of Sinar Sentosa Purwakarta and Wong Ngai-Cing of the Hong Kong National Team touched the finish line bunched together in the main pack. The riders will head southeastward on Monday for the 198.2- kilometer seventh stage race to Jember.

Results from the sixth stage of the Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia from Madiun to Surabaya on Sunday: Stage individual classification 1. Ryan Ariehan INA/Ina 5:07:01 2. Nunung Burhanudin BMT/Ina 5:08:28 3. Abdul Rachman PSB/Ina 5:08:28 General individual classification 1. Nathan Dahlberg GFM/Nzl 25:54:56 2. Amin Suryana SSP/Ina 25:57:10 3. Wong Ngai-Cing HKG/Hkg 26:01:54 Sprint winners (first point) 1. Suwandra INA/Ina 5 points 2. Yudhahantara SSP/Ina 3 pts 3. Huntao Youthaporn THA/Tha 2 pts Sprint winners (second point) 1. Nunung Burhanudin BMT/Ina 5 points 2. Suwandra INA/Ina 3 pts 3. Yudhahantara SSP/Ina 2 pts General individual classification on sprint 1. Suwandra INA/Ina 8 pts 2. Nunung Burhanudin BMT/Ina 5 pts 3. Agus Muhyanto SSP/Ina 5 pts Stage team classification 1. Indonesia National Team 2. Customs Cycling Club 3. Kencana Bike Team General team classification 1. Greenfields Fresh Milk 2. Polygon Sweet Nice 3. Hong Kong National