Dohling takes top spot at 2015 Tour de Barelang
Batam, Indonesia,
May 20, 2015
The 2015 Cycosports Tour de Barelang was a day for the breakaway, with Bastian Dohling of the Specialized Mavericks taking the Cat 1 title from a five-man group on the Indonesian island of Batam on May 16, while in the Cat 2 contest, Anza Cycling’s Craig Cameron came out tops from the three-strong unit he escaped in.
Darryl Tok of T3 Racing emerged as the winner in the Cat 3 race from a bunch sprint, with Kathryn Haesner of Arrivo Primo Singapura claiming the Women’s crown.
The Tour de Barelang, also known as the Batam Six Bridges race for the number of island-connecting links it traverses, is without a doubt the toughest nut to conquer on the Cycosports calendar. It’s hot, humid and climbs a seemingly endless series of rolling hills as it heads southeast from Batam down the road to nowhere that is the Barelang Highway. The distance is “only” 135km, but by the time the racers reach the u-turn and head back towards Batam, the sun is high in the sky and the 80km already covered in the totally exposed environment takes its toll.
With most of roughly 250 participants residing in Singapore, an early start was required to catch two chartered ferries that transported the riders across to Sekupang, a bustling port within sight of the Lion City’s CBD. After the usual seamless Cycosports immigration process, the Cat 1 riders rolled off just after 8am local time to start the day’s action.
Cat 1
Sizeable squads from DirectAsia.com, the Joyriders Racing Team, CyclingTrainingAsia.com and the Specialized Mavericks contained the favourites for the honours, and with last year’s victor Endra Wijuya of the local Hang Nadim CC team missing and the 2013 winner Evan Quek also not on the start list, a new Tour de Barelang champion was guaranteed to be crowned.
The first 15km or so was neutralised as the route negotiated the more built-up and traffic-heavy areas of Batam on its way to the iconic Barelang Bridge. Even after the crossing that first and biggest of the six bridges, the action was relatively cagey with any probes off the front easily reeled in. Around the 40km mark, though, after cresting one of the steep rollers, Dohling found he’d opened up a small gap. As the German pressed on, the peloton let him go; with some 95km to go, the first 40km of which was into a headwind, the odds on Dohling surviving solo were slim …
The lead steadily grew, though, reaching three minutes 30 seconds at its widest, which eventually spurred the bunch into an organized chase. After nearly an hour out in front Dohling was back in sight and surely about to be gobbled up by the peloton. But then on the last of the short, sharp climbs before the u-turn, Pierre-Alain Scherwey of DirectAsia.com launched a fierce attack in an attempt to bridge to Dohling. He succeeded, dragging three more riders with him, but unfortunately for the big Swiss rider, they were all teammates of Dohling.
Despite there still being 55km to go to the finish line atop the Barelang Bridge, this new group of five containing Ben Arnott, Andreas Ostern and Nick Swallow in addition to Scherwey and Dohling was a formidable unit, and the peloton couldn’t afford any indecision if it had any chance of catching the quintet.
The chase was solid, but the four Mavs in the front group formed themselves into a team time trial unit, and drilled it for home. This allowed Scherwey a free ride, but with four against one his task was always going to be a tough one.
As the high spans of Barelang Bridge came into sight with 10km to go, the Mavs started their attacks, with the DirectAsia man doing an admirable job of responding to the first few. But then at the 2km mark, Dohling fired the last of his bullets and while Scherwey responded once again, he couldn’t reach the German’s wheel. As Dohling powered up the slope of the bridge to win by 12 seconds, Swallow and Ostern nipped out from behind Scherwey and outlasted their outnumbered rival in the sprint for the minor placings, to make it a clean sweep of the podium for the Mavericks. Scherwey took fourth, with Arnott in fifth. The peloton rolled in over a minute later.
The Mavs also took the Cat 1 team prize, which was awarded on the basis of the combined times of the first three riders across the line.
Sizeable squads from DirectAsia.com, the Joyriders Racing Team, CyclingTrainingAsia.com and the Specialized Mavericks contained the favourites for the honours, and with last year’s victor Endra Wijuya of the local Hang Nadim CC team missing and the 2013 winner Evan Quek also not on the start list, a new Tour de Barelang champion was guaranteed to be crowned.
The first 15km or so was neutralised as the route negotiated the more built-up and traffic-heavy areas of Batam on its way to the iconic Barelang Bridge. Even after the crossing that first and biggest of the six bridges, the action was relatively cagey with any probes off the front easily reeled in. Around the 40km mark, though, after cresting one of the steep rollers, Dohling found he’d opened up a small gap. As the German pressed on, the peloton let him go; with some 95km to go, the first 40km of which was into a headwind, the odds on Dohling surviving solo were slim …
The lead steadily grew, though, reaching three minutes 30 seconds at its widest, which eventually spurred the bunch into an organized chase. After nearly an hour out in front Dohling was back in sight and surely about to be gobbled up by the peloton. But then on the last of the short, sharp climbs before the u-turn, Pierre-Alain Scherwey of DirectAsia.com launched a fierce attack in an attempt to bridge to Dohling. He succeeded, dragging three more riders with him, but unfortunately for the big Swiss rider, they were all teammates of Dohling.
Despite there still being 55km to go to the finish line atop the Barelang Bridge, this new group of five containing Ben Arnott, Andreas Ostern and Nick Swallow in addition to Scherwey and Dohling was a formidable unit, and the peloton couldn’t afford any indecision if it had any chance of catching the quintet.
The chase was solid, but the four Mavs in the front group formed themselves into a team time trial unit, and drilled it for home. This allowed Scherwey a free ride, but with four against one his task was always going to be a tough one.
As the high spans of Barelang Bridge came into sight with 10km to go, the Mavs started their attacks, with the DirectAsia man doing an admirable job of responding to the first few. But then at the 2km mark, Dohling fired the last of his bullets and while Scherwey responded once again, he couldn’t reach the German’s wheel. As Dohling powered up the slope of the bridge to win by 12 seconds, Swallow and Ostern nipped out from behind Scherwey and outlasted their outnumbered rival in the sprint for the minor placings, to make it a clean sweep of the podium for the Mavericks. Scherwey took fourth, with Arnott in fifth. The peloton rolled in over a minute later.
The Mavs also took the Cat 1 team prize, which was awarded on the basis of the combined times of the first three riders across the line.
Dohling revealed after the race that he hadn’t really intended to embark on his big solo effort.
“I rode away early to try and make the peloton chase, but they didn’t chase, so I just kept going,” he said.
“And then, when I looked around just before the u-turn and saw three pairs of yellow shoes along with Pierre, I thought that Christmas had come early,” Dohling added, referring to the fact that his teammates all wear the same distinctive S-Works fluorescent shoes. “I was quite confident then that one of us would win.”
Of course it was Dohling who had that honour.
“With 2km to go, I felt like I still had good legs, so I thought I’d go long and make Pierre chase me which would set up one of the other Mavs. But he never caught me so I kept going,” the champ said with a smile.
Cat 2
The Cat 2 race contained a sold-out field 100 strong, with notable representation from the Matadors, Arrivo Primo Singapura (APS), Anza Cycling, 4T2, the Joyriders, the Specialized Mavericks and Team Integrated Cycling.
Like in the Cat 1 contest that started five minutes ahead of them, the first notable action started shortly after crossing the Barelang Bridge on the outward leg. A four-man group containing Nathaniel Wallis (Anza), Alan Grant (Mavericks) and the Joyriders duo of Bjorn Hauksson and Sebastian Vargeuse (actually a Cat 1 rider who had unfortunately punctured in the first 1km of his race) slipped off the front. The quartet shared the pacemaking initially, but then looking round at the top of one hill, Grant found himself clear. Rather than sit up and wait, the Mav decided to embark on a suicide break. His lead reached 90 seconds at one point, but after some 30km out on his own, the peloton hauled him in.
A two-man counterattack shot forth on the catch but the big bunch was in no mood to let another lead build and the duo were left dangling out front before eventually being reeled in on one of the big rollers. The next significant action came immediately after the u-turn as uber triathlete Mark Jansen (4T2), making his debut in a dedicated bike race, decided to test the field. His probe had the peloton strung out, which perhaps softened some legs and allowed the decisive break to form a few minutes later as a series of sharp climbs came into sight. Grant opened up a gap on the first of those hills but after being brought back, went again on the next climb and opened up another small advantage, but crucially he had Jansen and Cameron for company.
“I rode away early to try and make the peloton chase, but they didn’t chase, so I just kept going,” he said.
“And then, when I looked around just before the u-turn and saw three pairs of yellow shoes along with Pierre, I thought that Christmas had come early,” Dohling added, referring to the fact that his teammates all wear the same distinctive S-Works fluorescent shoes. “I was quite confident then that one of us would win.”
Of course it was Dohling who had that honour.
“With 2km to go, I felt like I still had good legs, so I thought I’d go long and make Pierre chase me which would set up one of the other Mavs. But he never caught me so I kept going,” the champ said with a smile.
Cat 2
The Cat 2 race contained a sold-out field 100 strong, with notable representation from the Matadors, Arrivo Primo Singapura (APS), Anza Cycling, 4T2, the Joyriders, the Specialized Mavericks and Team Integrated Cycling.
Like in the Cat 1 contest that started five minutes ahead of them, the first notable action started shortly after crossing the Barelang Bridge on the outward leg. A four-man group containing Nathaniel Wallis (Anza), Alan Grant (Mavericks) and the Joyriders duo of Bjorn Hauksson and Sebastian Vargeuse (actually a Cat 1 rider who had unfortunately punctured in the first 1km of his race) slipped off the front. The quartet shared the pacemaking initially, but then looking round at the top of one hill, Grant found himself clear. Rather than sit up and wait, the Mav decided to embark on a suicide break. His lead reached 90 seconds at one point, but after some 30km out on his own, the peloton hauled him in.
A two-man counterattack shot forth on the catch but the big bunch was in no mood to let another lead build and the duo were left dangling out front before eventually being reeled in on one of the big rollers. The next significant action came immediately after the u-turn as uber triathlete Mark Jansen (4T2), making his debut in a dedicated bike race, decided to test the field. His probe had the peloton strung out, which perhaps softened some legs and allowed the decisive break to form a few minutes later as a series of sharp climbs came into sight. Grant opened up a gap on the first of those hills but after being brought back, went again on the next climb and opened up another small advantage, but crucially he had Jansen and Cameron for company.
The three riders worked very well together, and with Jansen doing some mighty pulls, they had managed to stretch their lead to three minutes 30 seconds with some 30km to go. Around this stage, however, Grant wilted and could no longer do his share of the work, which no doubt contributed to the breakaway’s lead starting to dwindle. The peloton also had finally organised itself and with Matador and APS leading the charge, the gap was down to 90 seconds when the commissaries gave the leaders a time check at the 16km mark.
As the sound of the lead police car escorting the chasing bunch grew louder, the trio pressed on, with Jansen continuing to do most of the work, but Cameron looked stronger whenever the road went up.
Their combined efforts were enough to hold off the pack, though, and it was Cameron, a renowned sprinter, who kicked first on the lower slopes of the bridge. Jansen followed but the Anza man was too strong and went on to claim a popular victory by three seconds from the big Ironman, with Grant happy to have held on for third.
What a debut for Jansen, who ominously for the rest of the local cycling community, has decided to put triathlon on hold for now and concentrate on cycling.
Jansen’s effort helped his 4T2 squad take the Cat 2 team prize.
Cat 3/ Women
Last but not least to leave Sekupang was the combined Cat 3/Women’s bunch which contained 110 riders. Anza, Ascenders, APS, Fat Boys Cycling Club (FBCC), Joyriders and Revsin Barbarians were among the bigger teams represented in the Cat 3 field, while APS were the only significant team numbers wise in the Women’s race.
It was Team Ascenders who lived up to their name by setting the early pace at the front of the big bunch. This had the effect of dissuading many breakaway attempts, although Ian McDonald of the Joyriders did strike ahead as the course started to undulate. Alas for Ian, nobody came with him and he soon made the sensible decision to drop back to the peloton.
As the hills got steeper, the APS, FBCC and Anza men moved to the front and with the cumulative effect of the heat and the hills beginning to take its toll, most of the riders were content to let the big teams set the pace.
As the sound of the lead police car escorting the chasing bunch grew louder, the trio pressed on, with Jansen continuing to do most of the work, but Cameron looked stronger whenever the road went up.
Their combined efforts were enough to hold off the pack, though, and it was Cameron, a renowned sprinter, who kicked first on the lower slopes of the bridge. Jansen followed but the Anza man was too strong and went on to claim a popular victory by three seconds from the big Ironman, with Grant happy to have held on for third.
What a debut for Jansen, who ominously for the rest of the local cycling community, has decided to put triathlon on hold for now and concentrate on cycling.
Jansen’s effort helped his 4T2 squad take the Cat 2 team prize.
Cat 3/ Women
Last but not least to leave Sekupang was the combined Cat 3/Women’s bunch which contained 110 riders. Anza, Ascenders, APS, Fat Boys Cycling Club (FBCC), Joyriders and Revsin Barbarians were among the bigger teams represented in the Cat 3 field, while APS were the only significant team numbers wise in the Women’s race.
It was Team Ascenders who lived up to their name by setting the early pace at the front of the big bunch. This had the effect of dissuading many breakaway attempts, although Ian McDonald of the Joyriders did strike ahead as the course started to undulate. Alas for Ian, nobody came with him and he soon made the sensible decision to drop back to the peloton.
As the hills got steeper, the APS, FBCC and Anza men moved to the front and with the cumulative effect of the heat and the hills beginning to take its toll, most of the riders were content to let the big teams set the pace.
The ladies were also playing a sensible game by seeking shelter inside the peloton, but one of the race favorites, Lizzie Hodges (Specialized Mavericks), the winner of the previous race in the Cycosports Series, had punctured early in the race and was out of the picture. Of the other women in the field, the APS duo of Kathryn Haesner and Rowena de Belligny were looking good, as was Wendy Yap (Joyriders), another former Cycosports race winner.
But by the time the race reached the turnaround, the race pace and conditions had proved too much for many of the riders and the peloton had lost a lot of its girth. The hills at the Tour de Barelang always seem tougher on the return leg, especially when as was the case for the 2015 race, a headwind is blowing. Attacks were few and far between and any that did create a gap quickly fizzled.
A sprint finish seemed certain for the Cat 3 race, while a war of attrition among the women meant that only Haesner and de Billigny were still in the rapidly shrinking peloton with 20km to go. Shortly afterwards, the front bunch splintered further on one of the hills, with only Haesner of the women making the lead group.
As the bunch honed in on the Barelang Bridge for the final battle, the riders jockeyed for position and when the sprint was finally unleashed it was Tok who proved the strongest, tearing up the slope for the win ahead of the Anza duo of Victor Michel and Jonathan Hooper. With another Anza rider in fifth, that club took the Cat 3 team prize comfortably.
Haesner duly claimed the Women’s crown but true to her competitive nature expressed mild annoyance at being dropped by the men on the final sprint. De Billigny rode the last 15km solo but still took second place by a comfortable margin from Yap.
But by the time the race reached the turnaround, the race pace and conditions had proved too much for many of the riders and the peloton had lost a lot of its girth. The hills at the Tour de Barelang always seem tougher on the return leg, especially when as was the case for the 2015 race, a headwind is blowing. Attacks were few and far between and any that did create a gap quickly fizzled.
A sprint finish seemed certain for the Cat 3 race, while a war of attrition among the women meant that only Haesner and de Billigny were still in the rapidly shrinking peloton with 20km to go. Shortly afterwards, the front bunch splintered further on one of the hills, with only Haesner of the women making the lead group.
As the bunch honed in on the Barelang Bridge for the final battle, the riders jockeyed for position and when the sprint was finally unleashed it was Tok who proved the strongest, tearing up the slope for the win ahead of the Anza duo of Victor Michel and Jonathan Hooper. With another Anza rider in fifth, that club took the Cat 3 team prize comfortably.
Haesner duly claimed the Women’s crown but true to her competitive nature expressed mild annoyance at being dropped by the men on the final sprint. De Billigny rode the last 15km solo but still took second place by a comfortable margin from Yap.
As the rain came down at the end of the race, the individual and team prizewinners climbed onto the podium at an awards lunch in the safety of a resort overlooking the Barelang Bridge.
Also awarded was the Rapha Most Combative Rider prize, picked by a committee of race commissaries to a rider from across all four races. They chose Grant of the Mavericks for his two long breakaway stints in in the Cat 2 race.
Full results of the Tour de Barelang can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lfshppb.
The 2015 Cycosports Series will return to Batam in September for the Nongsa Challenge, while before that, Cycosports will introduce an exciting new format in the shape of a 200km team event at the Johore Circuit in Pasir Gudang. Scheduled for late July, that race will take place over 50 laps of the circuit as a tribute to Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations. Watch out for updates at www.cycosports.com.
Photo credits: Richard Leong – Relish design+photography, Tony Rose, Ryhs Cheng, Second Wind Editorial Team
This article first appeared on www.secondwindmagazine.com.
Also awarded was the Rapha Most Combative Rider prize, picked by a committee of race commissaries to a rider from across all four races. They chose Grant of the Mavericks for his two long breakaway stints in in the Cat 2 race.
Full results of the Tour de Barelang can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lfshppb.
The 2015 Cycosports Series will return to Batam in September for the Nongsa Challenge, while before that, Cycosports will introduce an exciting new format in the shape of a 200km team event at the Johore Circuit in Pasir Gudang. Scheduled for late July, that race will take place over 50 laps of the circuit as a tribute to Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations. Watch out for updates at www.cycosports.com.
Photo credits: Richard Leong – Relish design+photography, Tony Rose, Ryhs Cheng, Second Wind Editorial Team
This article first appeared on www.secondwindmagazine.com.