Jones Secures Tour de Singkarak’s Stage 7

Cyclists from all over the globe make their way through Tour de Singkarak's seventh stage on Friday. (JG PhotoAfriadi Hikmal)

Dharmasraya. Cris Joven of Team 7-Eleven reclaimed the green jersey from Iranian Arvin Moazemi Godarzi of Pishgaman Yazd, while Brenton Jones of Avanti Racing Team won stage seven of Tour de Singkarak on Friday.

Jones made final a sprint to reach the finish line in front of the peloton in four hours two seconds, while Mehdi Sohrabi of Tabriz Petrochemical and Mark Julius Bordeos of Team 7-Eleven came in second and third place respectively.

This seventh stage presents the longest track of the race, stretching 167.5 kilometers between Sijunjung and Dharmasraya
districts and featuring mostly flat roads, which give sprinters like Joven a huge advantage.

Joven made an attack immediately after the rolling start in Sijunjung’s  Silokek canyon, leading four other riders, including Matnur of Pegaus Continental Team. 

Iman Suparman, of Indonesia’s national team, tried to catch up, but dropped back to join the big group led by yellow-jersey holder, Amir Zargari of Iran’s Pishgaman Yazd team.

Leading cyclists were still neck-to-neck as they approached the only climb of the day, in the Gunung Puding area, located  around 30 kilometers from the starting line. The uphill challenge proved too much for Matnur, who fell behind and eased back into the peloton.

The four riders continued their lead, with Joven dominating the first sprint point — in front of the Pulau Punjung district
office — as well as the second sprint point in front of Koto Baru market.

He surprised both participants and spectators when rocketed through the final sprint point, in front of Gunung Medan market, which was a mere 15 km from the finish line.

“The [seventh] stage is important to me. I made a successful breakaway. Unfortunately, in the last 3 kilometers, I lost my power,” Joven said.

As the race entered its final phase, the peloton increased its pace to catch up with the leading group. 

Unfortunately, Zargari found himself struggling with a mechanical failure that  placed a 200-meter gap between him and the other cyclists. Thankfully, his team managed to fix the problem, allowing him  to get back in the game.

Meanwhile, the peleton was fast approaching the four leading cyclists, riding close to one another along the flat track. However, a slight miscalculation lead to a collision between several participants, bringing them crashing down and out of the running.

As Joven ran out his energy, Jones, who was in the peloton for the most of the stage, made his move for a final sprint and won the race.

“Today our strategy was to get it back from a bunch of sprints. The boys did really well. Together we all made it  to the sprint. It was a great teamwork,” Jones said.

With a comfortable lead in the individual and general team classifications, Pishgaman Yazd team didn’t make any move in the stage, giving other riders a chance to finish in the top 10. 

Zargari remains on top of general classification with a total time of 21:23:18 to keep the yellow jersey, while teammate Ramin Mehrbaniazar leads the mountain competition with 26 points. 

Dadi Suryadi of Pegasus retains the red-white jersey as the fastest Southeast Asian rider, followed by Bambang Suryadi of Indonesia National Team and Boots Ryan Cayubit of Team 7-Eleven.

By Ami Afriatni on 12:58 pm Jun 15, 2014