Razali leads Malaysia's comeback in tour d'ISSI
Razali leads Malaysia's comeback in tour d'ISSI
Syaiful Amin, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Malaysian riders bounced back on Friday in the Tour d'ISSI with
Shahrulneeza Razali winning the sixth stage from Semarang to
Yogyakarta.
The Malaysian team also saw Suhardi Hassan take third place,
while Rochmat Nugraha of Jakarta finished second. Razali crossed
the finish line in 5 hours, 23 minutes and 34 seconds to become
Malaysia's fourth rider to win the stages.
Hassan and Muhazir Hamad triumphed in the first and second
stages, respectively, while Musairi Musa made his mark in the
fourth stage. Tsen Siong Hong is the only other Malaysian team
member yet to win a stage.
Eighty-four riders joined the start of the 161-kilometer sixth
stage, which incorporated ascending and winding routes,
especially on the portion of the race traversing Mount Merapi and
Mount Merbabu.
Crossing the finish line at the city's Post Office, the riders
were split into several groups with Razali, Rochmat, Hassan and
Nunung Burhanuddin of West Java heading the pack.
Ferinanto, the two-stage winner from East Java, struggled far
behind in 26th place, as did Suwandra and Kaswanto, respectively
runner-up and third-place winners in the fifth stage.
Hassan retained the yellow jersey with a total time of
21:44:41, followed by Amin Suryana of West Java (21:45:01),
Burhanuddin (21:45:25), Razali (21:45:30) and Nugraha (21:45:55).
The Malaysian team has stayed on top of overall standings at
65:18:02, with West Java in second place with 65:18:53, followed
by Jakarta (65:34:12), Yogyakarta (65:45:17) and Lampung
(65:55:00).
While the Malaysians basked in their stage win, the West
Javanese dominated the climb race, measuring 92 kilometers from
the starting line, with Burhanuddin taking first place and Amin
at third, and Rochmat the runner-up.
Razali admitted to the difficulty of the Semarang-Yogyakarta
route, the pinnacle of which was a steep climb between Cepego and
Selo in Boyolali regency.
"On riding up, I bunched myself off. If I had insisted on
attacking, I might have lost. However, when the route went down,
I sped up to rejoin the group," he said.
Team manager Zulaihi Sri lauded his riders' successful
strategy.
"Our riders are not experts at climbs. I warned them against
forcing themselves forward during the ride-up. Only on the ride-
down, should they up the gear," he said.
Runner-up Nugraha also praised the Malaysians' riding skills.
"They are very tough out there. I'd already begun attacking
them 1.5 kilometers before the finish line, but they were
absolutely unshakable," he said.
The riders have a one-day break on Saturday before resuming
the race for the 180.4-kilometer seventh stage on Sunday from
Yogyakarta to Madiun in East Java.