Battered and bruised AJ takes Tour de Timor thriller

Mountain Bike World Orienteering Champion Adrian Jackson "AJ" used his one minute and 41-second lead at the start of today's final stage to hold off fellow Australian Steele von Hoff and win the 2010 Tour de Timor Race for Peace by just 29 seconds in front of Dili's Presidential Palace and thousands of screaming spectators.

"What's the time?" von Hoff yelled as he fell off his bike at the finish. "How much have we got?" Well, unfortunately for him, not enough. AJ won the $US15,000 first prize.

Twenty-two year-old von Hoff, who is moving towards road racing and who aspires to compete in the Tour de France, won the final stage in a blistering 1:52:48, but could not make up enough time to catch the battered and bruised yellow jersey wearer 27-year-old Jackson, who was today third in 1:54:00 and who fell heavily near the end yesterday.

Von Hoff's teammate Neil van der Ploeg came in second at 1:53:15 after helping him break away from Jackson and Ben Mather (fifth) about 10 kilometres out.

Today's start was 800 metres above the finish in Dili. It was the shortest stage of the race but with a couple of climbs big enough to split the pack. Riders upped the tyre pressure to make the most of the smooth tar sections, but a 500-metre seriously-rough dirt descent 20 kilometres from the finish wound down to the coastal lowlands, testing riders to the end. A final 15-kilometre bitumen run along the exceptionally picturesque but equally hot and dry north coast shoreline was followed by one last 100-metre climb to the outskirts of Dili.

Pink jersey wearer Rowena Fry, who started the day 1:47:16 behind Jackson and 35 minutes 48 seconds in front of the next female, Naomi Hansen, played it safe to be the first woman home. She came in 16th overall with a time of 2:06:45.

Malaysian Shahrin Amir, 26, who was third overall at the start today, finished third in the overall Tour standings. He finished the stage seventh in 1:59:11. His fellow countryman Nor Shahriel Haizat Ahmad Nazali finished the stage 10th. Both ride in the Malaysian National Team.

The 2010 title probably belonged as much to Mather as he relentlessly led the way for as long as he could today. Mather, who is the Australian mountain bike marathon champion, sacrificed his own race during the Tour to work with Jackson.

"I owe this to Ben," Jackson said at the finish, "he has been sensational. We will split the prize money between us."

Von Hoff and van der Ploeg were totally exhausted at the end as they tried to make up the needed seconds. "I'm absolutely spent. Absolutely done," he said. "We attacked a lot and cleared the blocking game. Me and Dan (McConnell) put a big gap in before the last climb but they caught us on the descent.

"Then me and Mather were having a funny conversation as we thrashed ourselves. We were discussing the exact tactics of what was going on, but we weren't hiding anything, it was just, you know, strongest man wins. And then I broke them."

Jackson won the 2010 Otway Odyssey, and his girlfriend Jo Williams is riding the race for the Trailmix Chix team.

The local crowd went crazy as the first Timor-Leste, Jacinto Da Costa, crossed the line in 2:05:53, 14th for the stage, to win $US2000 as the first local to finish. His brother Orlando came in 18th.

Fifteen-year-old dynamo David da Silva Goncalves, who is just 1.5 metres tall and weighs around 35 kilograms, finished strongly. He started the day number 20 in the Timor-Leste National Team rankings, 8:04:32 behind the leader. Goncalves is believed to have said he was 18 years of age on the entry form.

Von Hoff's team, Felt, was always going to be a competitive unit. Each of the boys - von Hoff, van der Ploeg, Scott Liston and McConnell - came into this race touted as possible favourites. Undoubtedly each owes a great deal to the others for their high rankings.

As at the start of today, the teams overall result was led by Felt for the Moment 13:30:00; Rapid Cycling at 1:00:24; AyUp Australia at 1:19:02; The Fitzroy Revolution at 1:34:27; and the Malaysia Mixed Team at 2:32:17.

Race note

Dili has a history that grabs your heart and won't let go. The new democracy of Timor-Leste has fought back from the most overwhelming odds to be able to hold its head high in any company. Everywhere you turn in this country there are examples of heroism; heartache; courage; pride and perseverance. But most of all there are smiles that will light up your day. The Tour de Timor is a clever and well-targeted initiative as this small country has a limited, but growing, number of tourist facilities. The hundreds of mountain bikers don't seem to care. Tents are just fine. The President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta, who conceived the race, and the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and members of the Government were congratulated for their inspiration and support of the fledgling event.

Full Results - Day 5

Final general classification (overall; not available by category)