Irish rider wins Tour d’Indonesia 2006
The grueling Tour d’Indonesia 2006, which stretches 1,352.2kms from Jakarta to Bali, finished on Monday and was won by Irishman David McCann. This event should be a a commercial for ‘sweat wicking underwear’ and salt tablets. Well done to all who finished the race.
Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.
Irish cyclist wins RI tour
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Irish cyclist David McCann emerged as the overall champion of the Dji Sam Soe Tour d’Indonesia 2006, which finished in Kuta, Bali, on Monday, with his Giant Asia Racing team of Chinese Taipei taking first place in the teams category.
McCann clocked a total time of 33 hours 17 minutes and 35 seconds to grab the yellow jersey over nine stages, followed by Dyadichkin Vyacheslav of Kazakhstan at 33:20:20 and Seyed Rezaei Seyed Mustafa of Iran at 33:22:48.
Vyacheslav’s team, Polygon Sweet Nice Surabaya, finished second in the group classification, while Rezaei’s team, Azad Islamic University (AZU), was third.
Indonesian cyclist Fatahillah Abdullah took the first spot in the green jersey sprint category, with 30 points, followed by Russian Sergey Kudentsov and Japanese Masahiko Mifune.
In the 1,352,2-kilometer race from Jakarta to Kuta, McCann had been leading since the fourth stage from Purwokerto to Solo, Central Java.
He said in the final ninth stage, he focused on maintaining his overall lead rather than winning.
“I am happy to be the overall champion in this race. I hope I can return to the same race next year,” 33-year-old McCann told Antara.
The Irishman took home the winning prize of US$7,000, while his team collected $8,500 for its victory.
He also praised Indonesian cyclists for winning stages during the race.
Meanwhile, Fatahillah, representing Bintang Kranggan Cycling Club of Jakarta, said he was nervous in the first stage when Sergey won in the sprint race.
But there was a turning point where he came first in the second-stage sprint.
“Since then, I was able to maintain the lead in the sprint category,” Fatahillah, who won $2,500, said.
In the climbing category for the polka-dot jersey, Iranian Mehdi Faridi won with 22 points followed by Seyed Rezaei Seyed Musada with 21 and Jimes Sprage of England with 20.
Meanwhile, National Sports Council (KONI) chairman Agum Gumelar asked the Indonesian Cycling Association (ISSI) to evaluate the performance of local cyclists over the foreign competitors, to improve Indonesia’s future performance.