The Tour d'Indonesia will be held for the third year in a row, between September 12 and 21. Each year the race has grown and this year, 14 international teams and five national teams, numbering five riders each, have registered to start. The national teams of Malaysia and Thailand will be there again, along with newcomers Taiwan, Vietnam and Mongolia, who will send their national teams. The top Asian continental teams will join, as well as teams from Australia, Holland and Germany.
The Indonesian national teams are Dodol Picnic (Jawa Barat), Benteng Muda (Banten), Customs Cycling Club (Jakarta), Polygon Sweet Nice (Jawa Timur), Bintang Kranggan Cycling Club (Jakarta). This year there will see a new team, Telkomsel, with Amin Suryanto, Dwi Haryanto and three riders from The Netherlands: Franck Terwel, Anno Pedersen and Remko Kramer.
The route from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) is 1432.8 km long, split over nine stages. It's a well balanced route with some tough climbs and very hot and dry weather conditions, winding through the beautiful countryside of Java and Bali, that will really test the riders.
Organised by the ISSI, the Indonesian national cycling federation, the race has been granted a UCI 2.2 status on the Asian Continental Tour.
Last year's winner Nathan Dahlberg (Greenfields Fresh Milk) will be back, along with Mike Carter in a completely new team, consisting of strong international riders that should start as favourites. Dahlberg has been preparing for the Tour d'Indonesia by racing kermises in Belgium, and took advantage of the hot weather this week to race three in a row to get his legs back into condition.
The strong climber Ghader Mizbani of the Giant Team might find also himself in the yellow jersey, and increase his ranking in the Asia Tour. The Jong & Laan team from The Netherlands also has some strong riders with experience in the European competition. But insiders expect that Amin Suryana, last year second in the general classification, and his new team Telkomsel will be the big surprise.
The Stages
- Stage 1 - September 12: Bandung - Cirebon, 134 km
- Stage 2 - September 13: Cirebon - Purwokerto, 188 km
- Stage 3 - September 14: Purwokerto - Yogyakarta, 205 km
- Stage 4 - September 15: Yogyakarta - Solo, 135 km
- Stage 5 - September 17: Solo - Madiun, 108 km
- Stage 6 - September 18: Madiun - Malang, 234 km
- Stage 7 - September 19: Malang - Jember, 181 km
- Stage 8 - September 20: Jember - Banyuwangi, 112 km
- Stage 9 - September 21: Gilimanuk - DenPasar, 135 km
