Mather wins stage 4

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After flatting twice, Paul van der Ploeg lost the yellow jersey to teammate Luke Fetch. The fourth stage of the Tour de Timor was won by Ben Mather in 2:31:48. Fetch, from Search 2 Retain, was second in 2:35:53 while Alex Denham of Fitzroy Revolution Orbea took third in 2:35:54.

Ben Mather rode hard from the outset and his tactics paid off. "I went away on the first hill and then I thought I'd just keep going and see how I'd fare." Concerning the overall victory, Mather said, "I'm riding with AJ, last year's winner and unfortunately, we had a bit of bad luck on the second stage, so we're sort of out of the running for the overall. We've decided to consolidate third place for AJ and allow me to take off and have a crack at some stage wins."

"I came here to work for AJ to try to win the Tour again. Bad luck has prevented us from doing that, so we'll just take what we can from it now." Jackson himself came in fourth today with a time of 2:35:55. Jackson was part of the lead group behind Mather's breakaway.

Van der Ploeg placed ninth, 10:06 behind Mather. "I got two flat tyres, Rohin Adams threw me my second tube, and it went flat pretty much immediately." The upshot of all this was explained by van der Ploeg. "Luke will go into yellow, then I'll be in second, it's not all bad if my teammate goes into yellow, and I slide into second".

Tinker Juarez came in fifth with a time of 2:36:35 "The stage was a good stage. For myself I just had another one of my bad days, my legs were really heavy." Juarez was characteristically upbeat about the race, "I tell you one thing, whenever things are feeling bad in yourself, you always look around and there are positive things around you too. It's definitely always a beautiful scene when you see all of these beautiful kids out there."

Among the female contingent, Katherine O'Shea again took out the stage with a time of 3:10:40. "I settled into a good group with five girls to start with, did a lot of the work on the front, most of the boys were sitting on, don't know if it was because they didn't want to get involved in the boys' race or were just taking it easy." Melinda Jackson came in a close second, making sure the women's competition will stay tight.

Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi of Malaysia came in seventh in 2:38:09, continuing his run of strong form. "Today's stage was really challenging, I got left behind at the start but eventually managed to catch up with the leading pack. I kept up with them until the last 10 kilometres. I had targeted to win this stage, but my inexperience on this course I think has cost me. The next two stages will be good for us as they are mostly road-based. Hopefully we can win a stage".

Indonesian, Sugianto Banji came in 25th with a time of 3:02:05. The first-timer in Timor-Leste continued to be impressed by the scenery and roads. "I was riding on my own, I didn't have to think about any teammates or anyone, I knew the competition was really good so I just raced for myself today."

Francelina "Anche" Cabral came in again as top Timorese female and ninth woman overall with a time of 3:48:34. "It is good to finish, yesterday I was feeling pretty unwell, but am great today" she said. Speaking about her home town, Anche said "Los Palos has been fantastic because there is really good crowd support, it helps me keep going and gives me strength."

Amongst the Timorese men, it was another victory for Orlando da Costa with 23rd in 2:57:37. Meanwhile, his brother Jacinto da Costa again fell behind as his run of bad luck continued. On day one Jacinto came off his bike and injuring his knee. On day two Jacinto was without his shoes. On day three his front brake had problems that continued into day four. Meanwhile their coach Nelson Silva came in sixth for his best stage result yet with 2:37:21.

The ride today was another easier stage as compared to days one and two. The day wasn't without drama however, as many riders came off on the steep descents towards the North Coast. Fortunately there weren't any critical injuries; unfortunately, there has been one hospital case, determined as non-critical, at the time of writing.

Riders arrived on the North Coast of Timor at the picturesque village of Com. Com is best known for the Com Beach Resort, a beautiful destination for many expats living in Timor, as well as increasingly foreign tourists coming especially for the Eastern tip of the island. The Resort will be the setting off point for the Com Fishing Festival from November 7-12 this year.

The videos below include post-stage interviews with many of the top finishers as well as footage from the start and finish of the stage.

Full Results

General classification after stage 4