Ryan beats Razali for 7th stage victory

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ryan Ariehaan gave the West Java cycling team their first stage win in the Tour d'ISSI after finishing first in the seventh stage, which covered 181 kilometers from Yogyakarta to Madiun, on Sunday.

Ryan's victory in four hours, six minutes and 31 seconds was sealed by a powerful sprint to the finish line, in which he outpedaled Malaysian ace Shahrulneeza Razali. Ferinanto of East Java came third.

Razali wrested the yellow jersey from compatriot Suhardi Hassan with a total time of 25 hours, 51 minutes and 55 seconds. Hassan followed a minute and nine seconds behind with Amin Suryana of West Java dropping to third a minute and 29 seconds adrift.

It was West Java's first stage win with seven of the tour's nine stages having been completed. The Malaysian team took four stages with East Java two, courtesy of Ferinanto.

Despite failing to win Sunday's race, Malaysia, which has led the overall team standings throughout, has built up a significant lead by 47 seconds with the team seeing four of its riders in the top ten on the day compared to close-rival West Java's two.

The other Malaysians in the top ten were Mahazir Hamad, Suhardi Hassan and Musairi Musa, while West Java had Nunung Burhanuddin as the only other rider in the leaders' pack.

Ryan was elated at his win. "I'm glad and relieved that we just won a stage. Previously, West Java could only finish either second or third," said the 24-year-old as quoted by Antara.

The seventh stage consisted of a relatively flat run from Yogyakarta through Klaten, Sragen, Ngawi and finally Madiun.

Meanwhile, Suwantoro of Central Java won the intermediate race in Sragen regency, 92.8 kilometers from the starting line. Catur Wahyono of East Java and Malaysia's Musairi Musa came second and third respectively.

After the seventh stage, the riders must now brace themselves for stage eight, the longest stage in the tour, which covers the 234 kilometers from Madiun to Surabaya.