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01.04.08 Team presentation |
The evening before the race there was the usual team presentation, which was not so usual this time. Instead of being called up onto a stage, all participant were driven by ricksha through a little lap in town. I wanted to get some exercise (and fun) and ordered my drive to the front seat and hopped on the bike myself. Turned out to be great fun! The spectators started to laugh and gave us an extra big cheer, when they realized who was being chauffeured around,, while I started sweating seriously; partly, because of the humidity and high temperature, but also because it es quite difficult to steer such a wobbly bike that has (almost) no brakes.
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02.04.08 Stage 1
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Having survived the presentation, the team went for a short ride to loosen up the kegs in the morning. The start of the first stage, a 108km kriterium, was only at 14:00 on a totally flat circuit. Nevertheless I expected a group to go, so I was quite careful und tried to get into all serious looking attacks. Unfortunately I had absolutely no help from the team and thus missed the decisive breakaway. I treid to organize a chase, but it was too little too late and the break of ten gained 1:12 minutes on the main bunch.
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03.04.08 Stage 2
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The second stage was another lriterium, also flat and also hot and humid. But before it came to that, we had a two hours transfer before the race, for which we had to get up at 6:00 in the morning :-/
During the race nothing much happened - the leading riders watched each other and let no strong group get clear. Only after the second intermediate sprint, when I launched an attack with three other cyclists, it seemed we may be having a chance. Rapidly a lead of 50 seconds was established, but while our power started fading in the heat, some teams got organized and, with four laps to go, we were caught.
The rest of my team all seemed quite tired and in the end we were all happy to finish the race in the bunch.
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04.04.08 Stage 3
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Yet another kriterium and yet another long transfer early in the morning. The bad news was, the transfer was even longer, we had to visit the grave form the first Indonesian president and the race was delayed due to a funeral. So from the time we got up, until we were eventually racing six hours had passed. But on to the good news: The circuit wasn't flat. It really suited me with its 1km climb and its uphill finishing straight. Additionally there were three king of the mountain sprints and because we had to do thirty laps it turned out to be really tough race, only a handful of cyclist were not lapped!
I was very eager to make it as hard as possible, attacked repeatedly and was in almost every breakaway. Unfortunately these were never successful, because at least one of the top ten was always in it and we were chased down every time. Still I managed to finish second in the king of the mountains, but (again) missed the winning move in the final lap. Coming into th last lap I was confident that I was the strongest on the finishing straight and waited for the sprint. Meanwhile two cyclist gave it a go with half a lap to go, the bunch didn't react and the two rapidly had a decent lead, that was not closed again. I went into the final corner first, accelerated after it with 300m to go up the climb and no one could follow or pass me and I had a good lead finishing third.
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05.04.08 Stage 4
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No transfer! Still we had to get up at 6:00, because the start was an hour earlier. This stage would certainly bring out the winner of the tour, because of a 30km climb rising from sea level to 2000m! I did not know what to expect. I never raced such an climb and during the winter I never got close to such a mountain. In previous years these stages where always dominated by a couple of Iranian climbers, and this year it was no different. I tried to stay with them as long as possible, but they were much to strong and finished one, two and three. I only got sixth, which was a bit disappointing, but probably only a logical consequence. To be good up these mountains, you have to train these mountains!
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06.04.08 Stage 5
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The final stage was a 52km kriterium held in Surabaya, the Capital of East Java. We had to get up even earlier than the days before, because the start was at eight in the morning. Luckily no transfer, we just had an chaotic ride into downtown, with motorbikes, cars and buses passing us left and right without any traffic regulations.
The race was pretty much controlled by the Iranian team, who set a high pace, letting no one get away for long. I only made one attempt of getting away after the first intermediate sprint, but realised quickly that today no breakaway would succeed. So I just kept a good position in the first quarter of the peleton, staying clear of all trouble. In the sprint, everybody seemed a bit tired, I got a good wheel to follow and finished second! Never expected that! I think I have to start thinking, whether I'm a climber or a sprinter :-)Das Ergebnis hatte ich mir vor der Etappe etwas anders vorgestellt. Nach 120km Transfer, bei den ich schon mächtig ins schwitzen kam, weil die Klimaanlage unseres Busses nicht funktionierte und auch noch das Einschreiben vergaß.
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