Adrian Jackson from Victoria is still ahead in the Pure Tasmania Wildside challenge despite losing Monday’s leg to Olympian Sid Taberlay by just seven seconds.
Taberlay and Victorian Daniel McConnell pushed Jackson right through the event, with Taberlay overtaking his young opponent just 500 metres from the finish.
Jackson said: “My biggest concern was getting a bit of time over my main rival, Ben Mather, I managed to drop him and get across to the others about halfway.”
“Sid attacked 500 metres from the finish, but I was very happy with my ride,” he said.
Taberlay kept up the pace the whole race, despite being out of contention for the title, overall he’s more than 20 minutes behind the leader following a race plagued by punctures.
Taberlay says, “It’s worthwhile doing it as a training exercise, keeping up with these guys is good training.”
Daniel McConnell came in third, after keeping up with Taberlay and Jackson most of the way.
Tasmanian Ben Mather came in fourth, more than two minutes behind his main rival Jackson.
“It was a tough one, Adrian Jackson had a little bit more go up the steeper climbs and I wasn’t able to go with him,” said Mather.
Victorian Daniel McConnell pushed ahead at the start, and was the first up the hill out of the tiny settlement of Trial Harbour, on the far west coast.
He kept up the pace for the first half of the race before Taberlay and Jackson joined him. The two more experienced riders eventually pushing past to tussle at the lead.
The exposed 21 kilometre ride was unforgiving, testing more than 450 mountain bikers, with wind and dust battering the riders as they neared the coast.
The heavily gutted gravel track was hard on riders and their bikes, with severe drops down into creeks cut through the granite. It proved too much for a couple of people who were forced to pull out. Others battled to repair punctures as competitors rode past.
Tomorrow’s final competition stage, aptly named Hells Gates, is a 36 kilometre track through gravel and soft sand.
A pace car will lead the riders from Strahan to Ocean Beach where mountain bikers will ride literally to Hells Gates and back, and for some worn out by the previous 160 kilometres, it will feel like hell.
The event finishes at Strahan, with the first riders expected back just before 10.30.