La Ruta de los
Conquistadores: Day 2
By Mike Davis
Business as usual for
Federico Ramírez (BCR-Pizza
Hut) and Susan Haywood
(Volkswagen-Trek) on the
second stage of Costa
Rica's La Ruta de los
Conquistadores, with
both winning on the day,
building their overall
leads and establishing
themselves as favourites
to win.
The 75.2km second day
was a new stage for La
Ruta - the tradition
second stage is the
third stage this year.
Costa Rican riders
filled the top three
positions in the male
division, with Ramírez's
team-mate Juan Solís and
Paolo Montoya (Macosta-Lee
Cougan) coming in second
and third. Canadian Max
Plaxton was fourth.
"Today's stage was
really hard. More like
Trans Alp or Trans
Rockies style because of
the technical demands. I
already knew 80% of the
course, but the last
part of it was new for
me and it certainly was
the toughest climb. I
had to hike for about 30
minutes and only managed
to get on the bike again
a few meters before I
crossed the finish,"
Ramírez said.
In the overall
standings, Ramírez is
now 12 minutes ahead of
Montoya. Thomas Dietsch,
sixth in stage two,
occupies third spot but
at nearly 28 minutes
down on the leader, a
home win looks on the
cards.
No change in the
standings in the women's
race, with Sue Haywood
now 25 minutes ahead of
Louise Kobin (Sho-Air).
And the Brits? A 55th
place in stage two puts
Hamish Bingley (Ben
Hayward Cycles) up to
58th in Open. In A
Masters, Vik Chaudhuri
and Charlie Eustace
(Ellsworth/Freeborn)
both climb one place to
39th and 41st
respectively. Meanwhile
Matthew Kemp (Ride
Beyond) has slipped one
to 62nd. We're not sure
what's happened to Sam
Dowling (Fanylion
Racing) but he's not on
the results for stage
two or in the general
classification. Mark
Cadle is holding steady
in 38th place in B
Masters and Paul Collin
(who we somehow failed
to spot in the results
yesterday) is running in
67th. Andrew Burton
slips two places in Vets
to 6th position.
The end of stage two
marks La Ruta's halfway
point. Stage three is
the same as 2007's stage
two, covering 67km,
scaling the Irazú
Volcano and finishing
with a sketchy downhill
from the Turrialba
Volcano. |
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