Jazy Sports Beacon Phils. held its own against the fancied Indonesian and foreign riders in the 80-kilometer eighth stage inside the coastal town of Surabaya to keep its No. 3 spot in the overall standings of the Speedy Tour d’Indonesia last Monday.
Sprinters Ericson and Merculio Ramos carried the load for the Filipino riders, checking in at 11th and 13th places, respectively, just three seconds behind Malaysian national cyclist Mohammad Zainal, who ruled the leg in a time of one hour, 20 minutes and 48 seconds.
The Jazy cyclists were actually in the third and last main group of 62 cyclists who all timed 1:20.51. as the 11-stop cycling marathon sponsored by one of Indonesia’s leading telecommunications firms entered the homestretch.
A day after Filipino Sherwin Carrera, who hails from San Fabian, Pangasinan and not from Guimba, Nueva Ecija as earlier reported, ruled the seventh stage from Madiun to Surabaya, there was hardly any change in the individual and team division rankings.
Iranian Ghader Mizbani of Tabriz Petrochem continued to wear the yellow jersey for the fourth straight stage with an aggregate time of 28:28.17 with teammates Amir Zargari (28:29:23) and Hossain Jahanbanian (28:29.36) in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.
Ramos was still stuck at No 11 (28:36:59) and Irish Valenzuela was behind him in 12th place (28:38.02) while Carrera was 15th (28;38.41).
Tabriz Petrochem was tops in the team standings (85:24.29), followed by the Custom Cycling Club of Indonesia (85:46.13) and Jazy Sports Beacon Phils third (855:51.29).
With four stages to go, there might a major shakeup following yesterday’s ninth leg, a 120-km. run from Probolingo to Banyuwanggi.