Matheos Viktor Messakh, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 06/04/2010 12:26 PM
After a 10-year wait, the annual Tour de Jakarta has finally been listed on the Asian Tour calendar of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body for cycling.
The inclusion of the tour into the ICU calendar would make this year's tour, and those to come, more attractive to both local and international racers, organizers said.
The next race will be held on June 13, which will be the tour's 10th edition, and will be organized by the Jakarta Cycling Activist Union (IPSJ) with bicycle maker Polygon the main sponsor.
The tour, which has a total of Rp 116 million (US$12,600) in prize money, will be divided into individual and team races with a slight switch in race formats.
"All the rules and regulations are authorized by the UCI such as the number of laps and distance and even the tournament prizes," tour chairman Perry H. Josohadisoerjo said Thursday.
While in its previous editions the tour was held around several main roads in the five municipalities of Jakarta, the tour this year will take place on the city's Sudirman and Thamrin roads, which run 12 kilometers.
"The tour will cover 15 laps around these roads in order to deal with the traffic. The number of laps was decided by a chief commissioner delegated by the UCI. The length is similar previous tours, which was 170 kilometers," Perry said.
Only teams and racers who are accredited by the UCI can participate in the race.
"We don't want too many teams that may not be able to properly compete. We want them to be able to challenge the international teams. This is to gain a good reputation in the eyes of UCI."
Eight local teams and six inter-national teams have so far confirmed they would participate, with possible additional entries within the last few days before registration closes.
Among the international team are OCBC Singapore Cycling Team, CCN Colossi of New Zealand, Eddy Hollands Bicycle Services of Australia, Geum San Gingseng Asia of Korea and Bike Bug North Sydney of Australia.
Local teams include Bintang Kraggan Cycling Club, Dodol Picnic Garut Cycling Team, WSP Management Yogyakarta, Putra Perjuangan Bandung, Polygon Sweet Nice Cycling team and Kutai Kartanegara Cycling Team.
Indonesia now has four cycling races that are included on UCI's Asian Tour calendar: the Tour d'Indonesia which usually takes place in late November to early January, the Tour of Singkarak (June 1 to 5), the one-day Tour de Jakarta (June 13) and the Tour of East Java (June 18 to 20).
