Garmin TransPortugal Mountain Bike Race
Stage 2 - The most spectacular stage of the race
Louize Hill/agnelo Quelhas / 02.06.2008
From Freixo they start climbing straight away, up to Penedo Durão, and then down an extremely technical single track cut into the face of the edge of a narrow gorge. Many people walk this 1 km section, as a crash here could cost you the race, and even your life! A few of the more technical riders like João Marinho, Nathan Deibert or Paulo Cotrim rode it all the way down. Nathan believes riding this section gave him the advantage that meant he came in 4th place today. The technical descent ends at a medieval bridge, then there is a 500 m climb out of the valley to the road where everyone had to hike-a-bike. A large group of staff stopped here to watch and cheer the riders come by as it is on their way to their respective positions. Some of the riders were grinning, having loved the section, others were not so pleased!
From here there is a section of road to reach the bridge to cross the river Douro. Once over the river the route heads back off-road for a long, 20 km, climb up to the historical village of Castelo Rodrigo. Like almost all castles in this region, it is perched on top of a steep hill. But once past the castle the next 70 km are flat and fast and today there was not the headwind that in previous years has made this section a battle rather than a rest. Jonas Larsson, who is a serious road biker loved this section as he flew along at 30-40 km/h. A lot of this section is an old smuggler's path, that runs parallel to the border, that smugglers in the early 20th Century from the villages near Alfaiates used to get from where the border was well controlled to near to Almeida, where the border is wilder and more secluded. This year the course takes a new route through the fortified town of Almeida, following a single track around the castle walls, which several riders said seemed like an ancient bike park.
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