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Dili. East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta has thrown down the gauntlet to foreign cyclists ahead of the inaugural Tour de Timor and warned the race would be one of the toughest in the world.

The tour, from Aug. 24 to 28, will be a highlight of festivities surrounding the 10th anniversary of East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia, and the biggest sporting event the tiny country has ever held.

The president has been enthusiastically promoting the race, which the government is hoping will boost not only tourism but also the nation’s image as a peaceful country after years of unrest. The tour will be “one of the most challenging bike races anywhere in the world, probably tougher than the Tour de France,” he said.

Sixty international cyclists from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia have already signed up, while East Timor is expected to enter from three to six teams of four riders each.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ramos-Horta said his country’s proud amateur cyclists were ready to take on the world, particularly regional sporting giants Australia and New Zealand.

“Australians and New Zealanders are known to be very tough competitors,” he said.

“But they cannot compete against the tough East Timorese, so I think the moment they see the geography, the conditions, they will probably prefer to stay in Byron Bay [Australia] and enjoy the sunshine there.”

Up to 250 participants from around the Asia-Pacific region are expected to take part in the 350-kilometer race around the rugged, tropical half-island state.

Cyclists will tackle nine districts over five days, starting with a coastal jaunt east from the capital Dili, up short, steep hills and through fishing villages to Baucau. Day 2 will take them onto rock-strewn back-roads ending with a 20km downhill run to Viqueque.

The race then heads over river beds and probably the worst roads ever seen in a cycling tour, before a backbreaking 2,000-meter climb along 70 kilometers of country roads, through highland villages and dense forest.

The final descent on Aug. 28 will see competitors wind their way through rice paddies and Timor’s famous coffee plantations back to Dili, with a flat sprint at the end of the 95-kilometer stretch.

Despite a severe lack of resources, including decent bikes, 28-year-old Jorge de Silva, who represented East Timor at the recent Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, said local teams were up for the challenge. “It’s the first time we’ve had an opportunity to have international teams in our country since independence,” he said. “It’s in our backyard, so just come over and we’ll try you out.”

But he admitted his countrymen had a lot to learn about competitive sport. “When I was in Darwin, I noticed that all the athletes had specific food. The cyclists, when they came back in, they had food with nutrition that replenished what they lost and to us it’s something new, we don’t have that,” he said.

Tour public relations manager Sean Borrell said the event would require “another level of development” from local organizers whose only previous experience with putting together such a race was the 2004 Timor Challenge.

The Malaysian National Cycling Federation will send eight riders and the racing federation of Singapore has expressed interest in participating.

Borrell said he was also hoping to organize teams representing the international peacekeepers redeployed to Timor after civil unrest in 2006, as well as the United Nations police based there.

East Timor voted almost 80 percent in favor of independence from Indonesia in a referendum on Aug. 30, 1999. More than 200,000 people were killed in battles waged between pro- and anti-independence groups, and the departing Indonesian Army.

Proxies destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure on their way out.

Agence France-Presse