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Stage 1 - The race has started...

Louize Hill/Agnelo Quelhas / 01.06.2008

It was an early start for the first riders out, due to the system of handicaps. Kim Bear set off at 7:32, followed by Estie du Plessis at 8:01 and Sónia and Sandra at 8:10. The first group of men left almost an hour after Kim at 8:22. The main group started at 9:00.

Although the forecast had been for rain, and black clouds loomed in the sky all day the weather ended up being perfect. The rain held off, and it wasn\'t too hot, although some of the paler northerners still got sunburnt.

This is the hardest stage of the race, crossing the north eastern region of the Tras-os-Montes, and although there were no significant climbs during the day, the whole stage is a continuous up-and-down. When Reimert Sjoblom crossed the finishing line he said “the stage had been hard, much harder than he had anticipated�. Many of the riders enthused about the beauty of the stage, how fantastic the riding had been.

Predictably, after so much rain, there was a lot of mud on the trails, and plenty of puddles. One was thigh deep for most racers, poor Jos Engelen, with all of his 1.60m said it was up to his chest!

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