Bandung : Indonesian cyclist Dara Latifah successfully won a silver medal at the 2023 World Championship in the women's elite MTB eliminator class, which took place in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Tuesday (14/11).
This championship was attended by 79 participants from 60 countries, and was the only World Championship not held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dara crossed the finish line with a time of 1 minute 48.71 seconds, behind Italian rider Gaia Tormena who won the gold medal. Tormena itself has a record time of 1 minute 42.91 seconds.
The bronze medal was won by Dutch athlete Annemon Van Dienst, with a time of 1 minute 50.80 seconds.
This achievement is an exciting thing for Dara, after previously she managed to bring home a gold medal at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.
"This is a dream, thank God it can be achieved, smoothly. "I didn't experience any problems during the match, although I still couldn't compete with the first place winner," said Dara as quoted from a written statement received by reporters.
Meanwhile, coach Dwi Kurniawan believes that Dara is already quite familiar with the track presented, so he just needs to find the right position and playing style, especially after studying his athlete's playing style at the SEA Games. Cambodia, Hangzhou Asian Games, and Asian Championships in India.
"We instructed Dara not to rush and hold back his emotions when making decisions to take over his opponent, and it has been proven that Dara is capable of doing that," said Dwi.
In this championship, Indonesia fielded three cycling athletes, namely Ayu Tri Adriana, Dara Latifah, and Nur Maida Salma. Meanwhile, the men's sector was strengthened by Ihza Mahendra, Qorie Muhammad Hardiansyah, and Renoza Aldi Pratama.
In the men's category, French athlete Titouan Perrin Ganier won the gold medal, while compatriot Lorenzo Serres won the silver medal. The bronze medal belonged to Norwegian cyclist Sondre Rokke.
Indonesia's representatives in the men's category were only able to occupy seventh and eighth place in the final standings, filled by Renoza and Ihza.
The 2025 Tour de France will start in Lille
Jakarta - Organizer of the Tour de France, ASO, said that the world's elite cycling event will start in Lille, the border city between France and Belgium, in 2025. According to an AFP report on Wednesday, this will mark the first time in three
years finally, where the Tour de France will start in France, after the previous three editions always started from outside that country.
The three are Copenhagen, Denmark in 2022, then Bilbao, Spain in 2023, and Florence, Italy in 2024. For next year's edition, the Tour de France will close in Nice, instead of Paris, following the Olympics which take place in the French capital.
With this, Lille also recorded for the third time as the opening of the Tour de France after previously being held in 1960 and 1994.
Regarding the 2025 edition, the organizers will provide further details regarding the opening stage (Grand Depart) and the next series of events on November 30 .
According to local media reports, the 2025 Tour de France will start in Lille and then follow the north coast and head to Normandy and Brittany, two iconic places famous for bicycle culture in France.
The proximity to the Paris-Roubaix route could lead to the inclusion of cobbles early in the 2025 race route. In 2022, Wout Van Aert won a stage in Calais after switching from Denmark, with stage 5 covering the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix and finishing in Arenberg.
Furthermore, the route of Bayeux, Lisieux, Yffiniac, and the finish at the top of the Mûr-de-Bretagne hill, will likely be included in the first part of the 2025 Tour de France.
Although the 2024 edition will end in Nice, the 2025 Tour de France is predicted to close again in Paris following the Olympic series has ended.
The International Olympic Committee recommends ignoring the Friendship Games in Russia
The International Olympic Committee has recommended that national Olympic committees ignore the World Friendship Games scheduled to be held in Russia in the fall of 2024.
This came through a statement by the Director of Relations at the International Olympic Committee, James Macleod.
“Given the increasing politicization of global sport, we ask all National Olympic Committees to exercise caution regarding this initiative,” McLeod said.
According to him, participation in the World Friendship Games contradicts the sanctions against Russia that were imposed in February 2022, and the goal of the Olympic movement of preserving the independence and independence of sports.
Last October 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to hold the “Friendship Games” tournament.
The decision was taken to ensure the participation of Russian athletes and sports organizations in international sports activities.
The tournament is supposed to be held in the cities of Moscow and Yekaterinburg from September 15 to 29, 2024.
It is noteworthy that on March 28, the International Olympic Committee recommended that Belarusians and Russians who did not support the Russian special military operation in Ukraine be allowed to compete in a neutral situation.
At the same time, it recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus linked to their countries' armed forces or security services be excluded from participating in competitions.