The final day of the 2011 event, covering 85 km, was no walk in the park. After only a few hours of interrupted sleep, lying on a concrete slab in a school classroom, the Ballarat riders were all running on a combination of adrenalin and sugary gels. It was a sombre start at dawn with the riders led out in a neutral rolling start by team members of the international security force who had lost a colleague in the road accident the day before.
It wasn't long before the pace lifted and the top 60 riders scrambled for a place in the lead bunch to get a good draft to the first climb. Matt Turner describes how he 'had to burn a few remaining matches’ to bridge over to the next group and hang on the end of the pack until the road started to go skywards. Matt was quickly dropped and considered waiting for the guys behind, but decided to persevere and go it alone. Finally on the twisty coastal descent he caught a small group in front. There’s a bit of a trend here of the Ballarat guys making big gains on the long downhill runs.
Riders covered some similar roads to those used on the first day and Matt, now in a group of 20 riders, was able to settle in for a fast paced peloton ride for the next 50km. The infamous Timor potholes in otherwise undulating relatively smooth tarmac, made for some very amusing hand signals to warn rearward riders of oncoming hazards!
The next climb was a monster and was totally exposed to the burning sun. The group took it easy up the monolith with sweat filling their eye sockets. Matt went for it, and broke away from the group (attacking Contador-style) and dropped everyone in the group knowing that on the other side Dili awaited. Unfortunately by the time Matt caught some riders ahead, they were too blown to work and Matt, running on sheer willpower and hope of the finish line approaching, dug deep and bridged over to a local hotshot rider. They worked together until he fell off Matt’s wheel on a rutted back road through the ‘Wendouree West’ of Dili.
President Ramos-Horta had declared a complete shutdown of Dili for the morning of Friday 16 September. This helped to create a spectacle of peace and celebration for the entire city and all Tour de Timor riders, as they made their way through the suburbs of Dili.
The ‘highlight’ was a 6.5km downhill MTB gauntlet run through the dry Comoro River. The dry riverbed was described as ‘dusty loose hell hole’ by Matt who had maxed himself out. At this point Guy Falla came cruising past looking completely unphased, and enjoying the riverbed ride. And only minutes later another Ballarat rider, Shane Cody, came blasting past, popping another wheelie to rub it in, enjoying the riverbed as well. Matt struggled through to the finish, happy that he had emptied the tank on the final day.
The finish line was at the Palacio Presidente. There was a deafening, and quite overwhelming welcome from the local spectators. All six Ballarat riders finished pretty close together today, and no one bothered to check the results, just happy to have finished. All riders were ushered straight into the grounds of the presidential palace, to recover on the grass and exchange stories of fortunes and adventures for the day. And time for some humble luxuries and much needed physical and mental recovery. Yes, that means laying down drinking some Bintang beer and eating oreos.
Well done guys, six gruelling days, and a taste of the life of a cycling professional. Sounds like a lifestyle they could live with, if only someone was happy to pay them to do it.
Stage 6 Results (and Overall Result)
Phil Orr - 23 (16)
Jeremy Doolan - 39 (25)
Joel Hossack - 57 (92)
Guy Falla - 61 (54)
Shane Cody - 62 (53)
Matt Turner - 68 (50)
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