Porras and some 500 other riders took on a stage that included ascending nearly 10,000 feet up Irazú Volcano. Porras was followed to the finish line by fellow Costa Ricans Enrique Artavia and Lico Ramirez at one minute 26 seconds and four minutes four seconds respectively.

 

Defending La Ruta champ Todd Wells, who was sitting in second place going into the stage, was one of those feeling the burn left over from stage one. He dropped to fifth place and is now more than 19 minutes off race leader and stage-one winner Paolo Montoya.

 

Montoya now sits a comfortable 13 minutes 15 seconds ahead of Alex Grant with a total time of 8:45:34. Porras, meanwhile, sits in third place, only 13 seconds behind Grant going into Saturday’s final stage.

 

Male Overall

 

1. Paolo Montoya CRC 8:45:34

 

2. Alex Grant  USA +13:15

 

3. Dennis Porras  CRC +13.37

 

4. Deiber Esquivel  CRC +17.55

 

5. Todd Wells  USA +19.05

 

6. Federico Ramírez CRC  +19.08

 

7. Enrique Artavia  CRC +23:41

 

8. Milton Ramos  SPA +27:03

 

9. Moises Hernandez CRC  +36.59

 

10. Jose Montoya  CRC +44.52

 

Female Overall

 

1. Pua Mata (19 general)  4:34:40

 

2. Jane Rynbrandt (61 general)  5:24:32

 

3. Genevieve Evans (127 general)  5:59:54

 

4. Cinthya Coto (128 general)  6:00:09

 

5. Ligia Madrigal (137 general)  6:04:07