Munoz Breaks Iranian Grip

Cyclists in the Tour de Singkarak pass by workers laying out crackers to dry in the sun in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, on Wednesday. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Solok, West Sumatra. Oscar Pujol Munoz of Sky Dive Dubai Team finally notched up his first stage win of the Tour de Singkarak on Wednesday, with the 2012 champion claiming Stage 5 of this year’s cycling race, from Payakumbuh to Lake Singkarak.
The Spanish rider won the final sprint to the finish against Hari Fitriyanto of the Indonesia National Team and Edgar Nohales Nieto of Team 7-Eleven, in a time of two hours, 23 minutes and 42 seconds over the 102-kilometer stage.

“I finally made it after failing yesterday. I just want to enjoy the day, my victory. I don’t want to think about tomorrow’s race,” Munoz said, referring to Stage 4 on Tuesday, when he was caught and passed by Rahim Emami of the Pishgaman Yazd team just before the finish line.

“I just took the advantage of the other riders’ not being in top condition today,” he added.

With only two sprints and one climb in Wednesday’s stage, teams applied an offensive strategy, with riders making an early attack just after the rolling start.

Yousif Mohamed Alhamadi, from the UAE Cycling Federation team, took first sprint, followed by Mehdi Sorabi of Iran’s Tabriz Petrochemical and Jamalidin Novardianto of Indonesia’s Pegasus Continental team.

As the race headed to the hills, Hari made his move, taking the climbing points, followed by Sajjad Sabouri of Tabriz Petrochemical and Hamid Pourhashemi of Tabriz Shahrdari Ranking.

Right after the climb, Munoz made an attack and caught the leading group. With 30 kilometers to go, Munoz, Nieto and Hari had a commanding lead over the field.

The peloton managed to cut its time gap to 36 seconds with three kilometers to go. But the leading group managed to keep its distance and Munoz sprinted his way to his first stage win of the competition.

The result still leaves Munoz in eight place on the overall standings, 7:45 behind race leader Amir Zargari of Pishgaman Yazd, who has a combined time of 14:43:48.

“It’s a flat route. Too many attacks as I have predicted. But I’m glad I still can keep the yellow jersey,” Zargari said.

Dadi Suryadi keeps his red-and-white jersey for the leading local rider, while Cris Joven of Team 7-Eleven retains his green jersey for points.

Ramin Mehrbaniazar of Pishgaman Yazd keeps the polka-dot jersey as king of the mountain. Pishgaman Yazd leads the team standings.

Stage 6 today will cover 111 kilometers from Padang Panjang to Solok.

By Ami Afriatni on 08:52 pm Jun 11, 2014