Riders to set out for grueling Tour d'Indonesia
Riders to set out for grueling Tour d'Indonesia
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Tour d'Indonesia begins here on Monday and the 17
participating teams are braced for a grueling, 1,503-kilometer,
10-day cycling race to Bali.
The opening day will provide the riders with a 178.6-
kilometer mountainous passage to Lembang, the gateway to the West
Java capital of Bandung.
For the Malaysian team, the opening leg, with its steep climb
to the finish line, will be one of the decisive stages.
"We will be fighting all out in the first stage. This is the
stage our riders have a chance to win because we are good at
climbs. We don't expect much on the flat route because others are
better in the sprint," Ibrahim Daud of the Malaysian team said
after all of the riders taking part in the tour took part in a
parade through Jakarta on Sunday.
"If we can't get an edge during this stage, we will probably
be out," he said.
The riders took a leisurely 23-kilometer ride from the Twin
Plaza Hotel, along the main streets of Jakarta, with a stop at
the Senayan sports complex.
At the Australian Embassy, the riders paused to pay their
respects to the victims of the Sept. 9 bombing.
Of the 17 teams participating in the tour, seven come from six
countries: Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines,
Taiwan and Thailand.
Malaysia has sent two teams to the event, and its main hopes
will rest with Suhardi Hasan, who is familiar with the terrain
after a good run in last year's Tour d'ISSI here.
Suhardi finished behind compatriot Shahrulneeza Razali in the
individual category last year, and said on Sunday he was ready to
maintain that form.
"I will work hard with the other team members, although it
will be a much tougher a race this time as many strong riders are
competing," he said.
Two of Suhardi's main competitors will be Ghader Mizbani of
the Taiwan-based Giant Asia Racing Team and Wong Kam-Po of the
Hong Kong Team.
Mizbani was crowned King of Mountain and finished third
overall in July's Tour de Qinghai Lake in China, which also
featured riders from Europe and Australia.
However, the Iranian-born rider, still ruing the absence of
Indonesian ace Tonton Susanto due to injury, said he did not have
much knowledge about the climbs on this tour.
"I don't know the climbs, but I will try my best.
"And I'm sorry that Tonton can't join us. He is one of the
best Asian riders. I'd love to race against him. If he raced I'm
sure he would get a very good result," he said.
Tonton, whose international achievements include the champion
of the Asian category at the international Tour de Langkawi in
Malaysia in 2002, was forced to withdraw because of injury he
sustained during July's Tour de Sulawesi.
Wong Kam-Po, who won the Tour de Hokkaido last week, was
diplomatic in assessing his prospects.
"Everybody has a chance to win the race. I'd like to try my
best," he said.
There will be nine stages overall, with the sixth stage from
Madiun to Surabaya being the longest at 234 kilometers. The
fourth stage from Semarang to Yogyakarta is expected to be very
tight, as a steep climb awaits the riders.
According to Jamaludin Mahmood, the international official
assigned to supervise the tour by the International Cycling
Union, the fourth stage will be a decisive one.
He said that winning that stage would give an advantage to any
rider.
"With the climb win, the rider will just need to maintain his
pace on the flat route to keep an edge in the race," he said.