Cyclists struggle up the infamous Kelok 44 road on Stage 4 of the Tour de Singkarak cycling race in West Sumatra. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
Agam, West Sumatra. Iran’s Pishgaman Yazd team stamped its domination in the Tour de Singkarak cycling race on Tuesday after making a clean sweep in stage four from Bukit Tinggi to Agam, which covers 165 kilometers.
Rahim Emami of Iran won the stage with a total time of 4:28:15, crossing the finish line 16 seconds faster than teammate and current general classification leader Amir Zargari, while stage three winner Ramin Mehrbaniazar trailed by 29 seconds, placing him in third.
Three non-Iranian riders managed to make into the top 10, including sixth-placed Australian Matthew Clark of Avanti Racing Team, Bambang Suryadi of Indonesia’s National team and Oscar Pujol Munoz of Skydive Dubai, who came in eighth and ninth respectively.
Riders were pushed to their limits on a grueling day that took in Kelok 44, a winding uphill climb before the finish line, famously named after the stretch of road’s 44 hairpin turns.
Immediately after the rolling start, Munoz and Mark Galedo of the Philippines’ Team 7-Eleven made a breakaway, followed by Sajjad Sabouri of Tabriz Petrochemical and Saeid Safarzadeh of Tabriz Shahrdari Ranking. The lead was short-lived, however, as the rest of the peloton caught up in just few minutes.
Five riders made another breakaway attempt just before the first climb point, during which Junrey Navarra secured the first king of the mountain points, followed by Endra Wijaya of Custom Cycling Club and Soufiane Haddi of Skydive Dubai.
More riders made a break to chase the leading group five kilometers before first the sprint point. Cris Joven of Team 7-Eleven grabbed the first sprint point and managed to retain his position in second and third sprint. Meanwhile, riders from Pishgaman stayed in the peloton as part of their strategy, leaving the leading group to take their second climb.
With the third and dreaded Kelok 44 looming close ahead, more riders made an attack. Galedo managed to pull ahead of the leading group with a 1:45 time gap, but as the climb grew tougher the trailing riders to cut its time deficit and Munoz took over in first position.
Strong in the climb, Pishgaman riders started to make their move with Munoz in the lead, followed by Emami and the rest of his teammates. With only three kilometers to go, Emami mounted a challenge on Munoz, and passed him with one kilometer before the finish. Zargari also managed to pull away to maintain his time advantage.
Zargari retained his yellow jersey as the race’s general classification leader, while Mehrbaniazar secured the polka-dot jersey as king of the mountain. Joven took home the green jersey from last year’s owner Arvin Godarzi and Dadi Suryadi of Pegasus Continental Team retained the red-white jersey by dominating the Southeast Asian rider category.
Tour de Singkarak continues with stage five from Payakumbuh to Lake Singkarak, covering 102 kilometers, on Wednesday.
By Wimbo Satwiko on 06:57 pm Jun 10, 2014
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