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Colombia's Paez Leon Takes Lead
in Ruta
Colombian Leonardo Paez
(Full Dynamix) won the first
stage of the 14th edition of La
Ruta de los Conquistadores in
Costa Rica.
Paez crossed the finish line 15
minutes ahead from the second
place, Jeremiah Bishop
(Volkswagen-Trek). Today's route
departed from the Pacific Coast
into Carara National Park,
towards the heart of Costa Rica.
After arriving, Paez explained
he had some problems climbing
and decided to walk several
paths of the race, instead of
fighting it.
This is the first time Paez does
La Ruta. "I thought it would be
tough, but not this tough. I
just tried to keep a steady
pace". Bishop's obstacles were
mainly mechanical problems: "
...my cassette broke to
pieces... I was actually
surprised with his result. I
just kept on going, no pressure,
but the climb in Grifo Alto was
incredible".
Andrei Amador, a 20-year old
Costa Rican rider, took the
third place, declaring he is
excited and hoping to learn lots
from Paez and other competitors.
"The level of these elite riders
was clearly reflected in their
performance, let's see tomorrow.
Today I had several problems
with my bike, a couple of flats
and in the middle of the
muddiest road, the chain broke,
so I had to do walk for a
while".
Federico "Lico" Pérez who
finished at 4th place, is hoping
tomorrow stage will represent an
advantage to him, as he is used
to the kind of weather that the
second day is going to present.
Of the 510 people who signed up
for this year's La Ruta, the
organization estimated 483 were
present in today's departure.
The race started with only a few
minutes delay, heading towards
the mountains around 5:20 a.m.
with a relatively clear blue sky
and no rain.
David "Tinker" Juárez (Cannodale,
USA), who finished on 5th place,
said La Ruta will be the second
toughest race he would confront,
after crossing North America in
a 10 day-22 hours race. "This
will be the third time I do La
Ruta and I just hope to do well
this time and improve the 5th
place I got in 2004", Tinker
said. Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower-Scott),
last year's winner, entered at
12th place.
Stage 1 and Overall:
1-Leonardo Paez Leon (Full
Dynamix) COL 6:00:25
2-Jeremiah Bishop
(Volkswagen-Trek) USA 6:15:13
3-Andrey Amador (BCR-Pizza Hut-KHS)
CRC 6:21:55
4-Adam Craig (Giant) USA 6:25:27
5-Federico Ramirez (BCR-Pizza
Hut-KHS) CRC6:26:54
6-Tinker Juarez (Cannondale USA)
USA 6:33:19
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