Stage one – Dili to Laclubar
The first stage of the 2011 Tour de Timor has been taken out in 4:12:59 by returning champion Adrian Jackson from the Rapid Cycling team. Second place was taken by Paul van der Ploeg in 4:17:25, with his Search to Retain teammate Luke Fetch third, a further 1:12 behind. Jackson’s teammate Tinker Juarez claimed fourth with a time of 4:19:41.
“It was very tough, probably the biggest climb I’ve done here in Timor,” said Jackson, after re-claiming the leader’s jersey he won in last year’s edition of the race.
“I was working with Ben Mather, we sat in the group and tried to encourage everyone to take turns. When we hit the climb, all of us who were sitting back were feeling a bit fresher.”
“Neil (van der Ploeg) was off in the front group with Tinker, I was a bit worried about them, but then we obviously caught them, also with us were their team mates Paul and Scott”. Jackson finished by noting that, “it’s a long race, anything could happen.”
Second place and first placed U23 winner was Paul van der Ploeg “This is my first Tour de Timor. It started off nice and calm, my brother got in with an early break which meant we didn’t have to work too hard in the flat section so I could conserve energy for the Mountain Climb.”
“It is completely different to cross-country racing, I can’t remember the last time I was on the bike for four hours straight at the threshold, so very different type of racing”. The Australian Champion was impressed with the Tour de Timor: “Racing the world’s best back in Europe you feel it could be easy, but it has been very humbling, they really put me in the hurt-locker”.
Legendary rider Tinker Juarez made an early break at the turnoff before Manatuto. While he rode hard during the Mountain Climb, earning himself the King of the Mountain jersey, he was eventually reeled in by riders Adrian Jackson, brothers Neil and Paul van der Ploeg and their teammates Luke Fetch and Scott Liston. As the riders took the chance to cool down “It got really hot”, said Juarez. “You just kinda do what you gotta do, it would have been nice to have someone to ride with on the break away”.
The Malaysia team had three riders – Shahrin Amir, Mohd Razif Mohd Salleh and Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lufti arrive 10,11,12 19:27 behind the winner. Lutfi “It was quite a switch for me to do TdT, I am a road racer, so Mountain Biking is very different”. “I tried to stay with the peloton throughout the race because we knew the front runners were fast, we’re going to target a team win”.
Portuguese national and trainer of the Timorese National Team, Nelson Silva, finished in 4h33:21, in 13th place. Indonesian national Ahmad Yani of the team KGB Jakarta arrived in 4h48:50.
Peta Mullens of the team “Nothing good can come of this” was the first woman to arrive, coming in 21st place with a time of 4h44:10. Her team mates Katherine O’Shea and Naomi Hansen.
The first place Timorese rider today was Jacinto da Costa at 33rd, arriving with brother Orlando in 5h03:31 and 32 respectively. They rode together and kept in the peloton until well after the 40km mark. “We worked well together to keep a good pace, but the top guys are really good”, Jacinto said that he was really happy with the level of support, which is getting better and better each year. “I am really happy with how this went, it is a great event and I would like to send special thanks to President Ramos-Horta, the support we have received has been fantastic”.
The 111km stage continued the Tour de Timor tradition of starting hard and testing riders from the outset. While the first 65km was relatively easy along good bitumen road winding along the picturesque North Coast of Timor-Leste, the move inland led to significant difficulties for the riders.
The town of Laclubar itself is this year’s only mountain stopover. As in other years, the mountain villages are defined by their slower pace of life, majestic scenery and convivial local villagers. The town of Laclubar is the capital of the sub-district, also named Laclubar, and part of Manatuto district. President HE José Ramos-Horta is himself a local of the area coming from Soibada.
Stage Two – Laclubar to Beacu
The second stage of the 2011 Tour de Timor has been taken out by Luke Fetch and Paul van der Ploeg in 4:12:10 and 4:12:11, respectively. The duo entered Beacu together, victorious having won the days battle for ascendancy. The pair was able to get 13 minutes and 25 seconds ahead of yesterday’s winner, Adrian Jackson, who along with his team mate Ben Mather, flatted early in the race. Tinker Juarez has been continuing his strong run of form with a third place finish.
Fetch spoke about his victory telling how “AJ and Ben Mather pretty much had the pace on from the gun, we had about 6 guys in the bunch, until AJ punctured. Ben stopped with AJ and we were able to get away.” Compared to stage one Fetch explained that “the pace started off a lot harder, there was quite a lot of climbing to do, a bit of wind, it definitely wasn’t an easy stage”.
Jackson finished in 6th with a time of 4h25:45 after having punctured at the 14km mark “Yeah I had a flat, I mean it wasn’t too bad, we changed it pretty quickly; me and Ben stopped because he is my team mate. We got going again but soon after that Ben got a flat as well so then I was on my own having to chase down the group of three up the road who would have been working as hard as they could”.
“I’m sure I’m out of the top three now,” lamented Jackson who continued saying “Paul and Luke will be working with their team to hold their places, it’s hard when it is me and Ben working against four other guys, we’ll try our best.”
Paul van der Ploeg was philosophical about finishing behind team-mate Fetch, “yeah second again, but it was more about the exposure, getting our team across the line. We both deserved it today.” And he continues to be impressed by the strength of the field: “at the very start we were going at the same pace that I race the world cup cross-country, it was very fast. It is sort of a gamble with cross-country because Adrian flatted and we just had to keep the pace from there”.
Tinker Juarez who finished in 4h23:30, was similarly taken aback by the pace of the Tour so far. “I just knew that today was going to be a tough day, I think I did a little too much yesterday pushing it too hard. I think today was harder, much harder”.
Talking about the crowd support Juarez explained that “It’s about the only thing that could keep me motivated, the people were really, really fun to see, even having my worst day I still love to see the kids and wave to them. At least I can take that positive away.”
Mohd Razif Mohd Salleh continued his strong run of form at the top of the Malaysian team, finishing 9th with a time of 4h46, while Shahrin Amir and Muhamad Fauzan Ahmad finished 12 and 15 respectively. Nelson Silva also continued to be the top Portuguese national with his 11th placing.
The women’s team “Nothing Good Can Come of This” continued their strong run of form, with Katherine O’Shea, Naomi Hansen and Peta Mullens arriving in a group of approximately 10 riders to finish.
Orlando da Costa also came in the group of 10 riders in a time of 5h07:45. He told of his brother Jacinto’s problems with his shoes that kept him out of the contention for top Timorese rider. “It was hard today, but I was happy to work in the group that I had”. Also in Da Costa’s group were the top four female riders, Neil van der Ploeg and the Indonesian rider Sokianto who came in with his team.
Sugianto Binjai was the first Indonesian to finish. In his first Tour de Timor said that “the course is really good, although the wind is really strong”. Binjai was thoroughly impressed with the race, saying “My own feeling is that this Tour is really good, when I go back to Indonesia I definitely want to tell the other riders to come, I will invite them to participate in next year’s; it has been awesome”.
Katherine O’Shea said “there was four of us (women) together today. We kinda had the upper hand because we had three of our team members with us . We really just wanted to cover Peta and keep her in GC; we just want to make sure we secure those top three GC spots”. Melinda Jackson of team Trailmix came in second open female. The 122km stage was characterised by downhill from the mountains to the South Coast. Rough roads outof the mountains continued throughout the route making for difficult going for the riders. Sections of flat, mostly sealed surface allowed some speed for riders after passing the Viqueque river, but by and large this has been a stage that most cyclists are happy to have behind them. Tomorrows ride of 69km will provide welcome respite for many.
Beaco is a small village on the South Coast of Timor. It is part of the Viqueque district and looks out across the Timor Sea towards Australia. The village is the site of several Portuguese era buildings including a church and a trading post. Although the beach itself looks inviting, word from the locals is to keep out of the water: crocodiles abound.