Malaysian Fauzan dominates stage 5

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Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi of team Malaysia arrived in Manatuto for the stage win in 4:11:23. Matt King of Skytrans came in second in 4:12:47 as part of a three-man chase group with Ashley Hayat of Fitzroy Revolution in 4:12:50 and Ben Mather of Rapid Cycling in 4:12:54.

"I'm really tired, this is the furthest stage yet," said Fauzan. "Today I thought it was good to put some pressure on the other riders, I felt good."

"At the first KOM they were just pushing themselves hard, I just followed them, stayed with the pack. At the second KOM, I decided to break away from everyone and I had to go alone because all of my other teammates were tired".

"My target today was to win a stage, so I'm glad I did it". Fauzan himself is new to mountain biking, being more of a road racer. "I knew I had an advantage on this stage because there was a lot more road racing." "I will probably try to win tomorrow's stage, my other teammates would like to do that as well".

Runner-up King was full of admiration for Fauzan, "Today, the Malaysian dude was just so strong, going up the last KOM he rode away from us and we didn't give him much of a gap but he just held us the whole way. It was absolutely gutsy ride from him, it was well deserved, very well deserved."

Third placed rider Hayat said, "I was donated a third. So the Malaysian guy had won and we had three in the bunch chasing, I was pretty wrecked, Ben (Mather) was really strong but he'd already had a win so he offered me the podium place, it was very generous of him." Hayat has had a better day today, and is looking forward to the final stage. "Tomorrow will be nice, cruise back to Dili, lots of noise, lots of screaming fans"

Tinker Juarez was again amongst the top in a time of 4:16:12 as part of the first major group approximately five and a half minutes behind the winner. "The roads were about the best you could ask for in this kind of racing, it was so smooth, the whole day gave us some rest," said Juarez.

"My strategy was to just stay with the peloton, we were trying to catch the breakaways, but at one point they caught us off guard, we got as close as about a minute, by the time we got our water and did everything they were gone so we really blew our chances, the other group was already long gone so we shut it off and just rode a group together."

"I think I blew my chances in the king of the mountains, there are three strong guys just blazing up the hill like it's a downhill. I'm thinking now I just want to have a good day tomorrow so I can be happy."

Orlando da Costa was again first of the Timorese males with a time of 4:30:49 in 30th place. He was closely followed by brother Jacinto da Costa and team mate Antonio Martins.

Ahmad Yani of team Merpati Indonesia came in top Indonesian and in 20th place overall in the second major group arriving 11 minutes after the breakaway. "I'm getting more tired with each stage, and with 140 kilometres, plus the heat and strong winds, I just stayed with the pack. I just kept my energy by keeping with the pack."

On Timor, Yani continued to be impressed with the country. "This stage is different to the others, I thought the beaches were really nice. I was surprised to see how nice people were even though they knew I was Indonesian."

Melinda Jackson from the team Trailmix was the first of the women with at time of 4:37:49. "The first 70km we were with a bunch of about 60 men, and it was pretty easy riding. And then the KOM started, and it all just blew apart, like we knew it would then, so from then on it was just Kath and I up the hill and we hurt ourselves a lot."

"Earlier Peta flatted, it was really unlucky, as we were climbing the KOM, Naomi had a derailleur off her bike and was changing her hanger".

The ride today was the longest in Tour de Timor history at 142km. The road was mostly good, sealed bitumen, including the 10km hill climb through Baucau before it headed back down to the coast to stop over in Manatuto.

Manatuto is capital of the sub-district and district, also named Manatuto. It is known for its pottery, salt production and the amazing diving along the coast line back towards Dili. Riders will tomorrow be retracing their voyage from the first day of the Tour when they head back along the same stretch of coast before a special tour of Dili's bairos.

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