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SOLO - Cagey veteran Nathan Dahlberg went looking for a stage win - and some redemption - in Thursday's leg of the 2005 Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia. He very nearly got both, just losing the fourth stage to Dutch rider Peter Van Agtmaal (The Jong en Laan), who took Dahlberg in a two-up sprint in Solo.
Dahlberg, riding for the Greenfields Fresh Milk team, won the 2004 edition of the Tour d'Indonesia, but he has not been a factor in the general classification this year. With the yellow jersey now out of reach, the optimistic Dahlberg said he will keep hunting for stage wins. "I've been feeling better every day. I'll keep trying for whatever we can get. My team is not really high on GC so we can attack at will."
Thursday's leg of the Tour d'Indonesia marked the first time in this year's race that the Giant Asia Racing Team has failed to win a stage. But Giant continued to control the yellow jersey, which still rests on the shoulders of Hossein Askari.
Thursday's stage was a 135 kilometre ride from Jogjakarta to Solo that featured a tough first-category climb, and a demanding see-saw descent to the finish. Among those missing from the start in Jogjakarta was Chinese Taipei rider ChunTe Chiang, who crashed heavily on a descent during stage three, breaking his leg. Paul McCann, winner of stage two, has also retired from the Tour with illness, leaving his Giant team with only three riders in the race.
Eager to make his mark on this years' race, Dahlberg attacked just five-kilometres after the start, taking three riders with him, including Van Agtmaal. The Dahlberg group gained considerable time in the early goings, with Giant seemingly content to give the break some rope. At the base of the first-category climb, the leaders had over 10 minutes on the peleton. Dahlberg pushed the pace up the climb, shedding all of his breakaway campanions save Van Agtmaal. "Nathan was the strongest up the climb, he did the work," said the Dutchman. Dahlberg took the King-of-the-Mountains points at the top of the climb, and the two breakaway riders began the descent to Solo. But Van Agtmaal was starting to worry. He knew Giant was beginning to dial-up the chase, and he was concerned he and Dahlberg would get caught. "I wanted to wait (for the chase group)," Van Agtmaal said. "But then we found out we still had four minutes, and we decided to give it all we could. Then it was everything or nothing."
Giant had indeed begun to turn on the afterburners, gradually cutting down the gap to the leaders to two minutes, then a minute, then just twenty seconds coming into the final kilometres of the stage. But for the first time in this years Tour, Gaint failed to capture the leaders or take the stage win. Dangling just off the front of the chase group, Dahlberg and his Dutch companion stayed away to the finish, where Van Agtmaal jumped clear to win by two seconds over the tough New Zealander. Kam Po Wong (Purapharm) won the bunch sprint for third place, fifteen seconds back.
The Jong en Loan had a doubly good day, with their rider Maint Berkenbosch taking back the polka-dot jersey of the King-of-the-Mountains leader. Meanwhile, Ryan Ariehan continued to strengthen his hold on the red-and-white jersey of best Indonesian rider in the Tour. He now holds a seven-minute, fifty-nine-second lead in that competition over Kaswanto of the Customs Cycling Team. Filipino rider Rhyan Tanguilig (Casino Filipino) retains the green jersey as leader of the point's competition.
The riders will enjoy a rest day in Solo on Friday. Racing resumes on Saturday, with a mostly flat, 108 kilometre race from Solo to Madiun. The 2005 Dji Sam Soe Tour d'Indonesia is a 1,433-kilometre race divided into nine stages. It began in Bandung on 12 September, and finishes in Denpasar on the Island of Bali on 21 September.
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