Australians lead in painful race
Adrian Jackson (AJ) and his fellow Team Rapid Cycling rider Rowena Fry lead the men’s and women’s competitions in the 2010 Tour de Timor Ride for Peace, after Fry was the first woman across the finish line in the first two stages and AJ won the first stage
and finished third in the second, won by fellow Australian Dan McConnell.
"It was pretty much hard from the gun," said McConnell, "it was only 30km or so until you hit the first climb, and it was a pretty fast pace up that hill. It was really hot. There were exposed hills, not much shade and no wind. I was cramping up but managed
to hang in there."
The next two stages of the five-day tour will take the riders into the difficult mountains of Timor. AJ is in close competition with the stage two winner Dan McConnell and the runner-up to both of the first two stages, Steele von
Hoff.
"I cramped up and just had to get off the bike," said von Hoff after the first stage, which he had led until cramping shortly before the finish line. "All I could do was push the bike for two Ks and then I hopped on and rode in."
The women’s competition is ridden alongside the men’s, unlike in separate divisions like in the European multi-s*x races. Fry’s first-place finish among the women in the first two stages was the result of finishing 12th
and 10th overall. She stands well ahead of her nearest female competitor.
"The way the hills were, I couldn't really ride with the other girls," said Fry. "It made it a very individual kind of race."
Though it is the richest mountain bike race in the Southern hemisphere, with a total purse of $100,000, the Tour de Timor is not just a race. It trades the beautiful vistas and panoramas typical of the European tours for a look into the horrifying state
of recent Timorese history. The two race leaders, both crossed the finish line of the first stage into the town of Balibo, where they rode past the ‘Australia House’ where five of their countrymen were murdered by Indonesian soldiers while reporting on the
1975 Indonesian invasion of Timor-Leste. The journalists sought refuge in the house by painting the word ‘Australia’ and an image of their flag on the outside walls, still partially visible today.
"You are all heroes and each and every one of you are special friends of the people of Timor-Leste,” said President José Ramos-Horta in welcome to the riders. “I am delighted to invite riders, both new and returning, to experience the world's toughest bike
race, in Asia's newest nation."
The second stage left from Balibo and finished at an infamous church and school in Suai. In 1999, the occupying Indonesian military raped and massacred hundreds of unarmed locals. The clergymen attempted to hide the townsfolk and school children, but they
were found and slaughtered. The school was converted into an orphanage after Timor-Leste gained its independence from Indonesia.
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