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.