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Kintamani, Bali. Home favorite Bambang Suryadi lost the Tour d’Indonesia lead on the next-to-last stage of the biggest cycling race in the country.

In the ninth and penultimate stage, the Polygon Sweet Nice racer finished outside the top 20, with a time of four hours, 27 minutes and 11 seconds — almost five minutes behind the winners.

With a total time of 32:18:53, the 21-year-old tumbled out of the top three in the individual standings.

Bambang, who had held the overall leader’s yellow jersey since the fifth stage, also lost the polka-dot jersey for best climber. That went to Fabia Nappa of team Germany Wurtternberg. He still holds the red-and-white jersey for the top local racer.

Eric Sheppard of Plan B Racing, who finished third in the 137.7-kilometer stage from Gilimanuk to Kintamani, is the new overall leader, with a time of 32:14:55. Germany Wurtternberg’s Christoph Springger is second at 32:15:12, followed by Hong Kong Team’s Chun Hing Chan a further 46 seconds back.

Sheppard, from Australia, looks likely to clinch the title as today’s final stage is the shortest of the Tour, a 97-kilometer ride from Kintamani to Denpasar.

Polygon Sweet Nice manager Wawan Setyobudi said victory was likely out of reach for Bambang, who would have been only the second Indonesian to take the title since the Tour began in 2003.

“Bambang doesn’t have the power to race at a constant pace. He told me it’s because he’s very tired,” Wawan said. “I don’t think we can win the individual title, but we still lead the team standings. We’ll make sure we can win the team title.”

The Surabaya team tops the standings with a total time of 97:00:23 after nine stages. Hong Kong Team is 47 seconds back in second, while Germany Wurtternberg is third at 97:16:36.

Harm de Vries of Global Cycling Team won the ninth stage after outsprinting Terengganu’s Shinichi Fukushima in the final 100 meters.

De Vries crossed the finish line first in 4:22:25, followed by Fukushima with the same time, while Sheppard was 35 seconds off the leaders in third.

Antara