La Ruta de los Conquistadores
Montoya Strikes Back
Luis A Rueda Fonseca / 14.11.2008
Though “Lico� still wears the yellow jersey, his advantage over Paolo is now a little less comfortable. After two stages completed, Federico’s overall time is 9:48:28; Paolo follows him pretty closely just 7:28 behind.
Paolo’s Backyard
The stage kicked-off at 7 a.m. from the Quintas del Sol complex in Santa Ana, beginning with a two kilometer controlled ride into Santa Ana city just before getting into the first challenge of the day.
It seems like this first climb up to the southern hills of Santa Ana benefited Paolo who actually lives on the slopes of these mountains and practically knows the terrain as if it was “his own backyard�. This section included one of the main changes introduced to La Ruta for the present edition.
Besides the climb, the new course also featured double and single-track portions designed into the “Montes de Cielo� state, a mountain property that belongs to Costa Rican FOX Shox representative Luis de Ezpeleta.
After coming out from the 10 kilometers steep uphill, Paolo Montoya and Federico RamÃrez entered the woods together. The pair stayed united on the slippery “Palo Encebadoâ€? downhill and during the day’s main paved climb.
Nevertheless, Paolo used his improved technical skills for the descent precisely on the last dirt road coffee-planted section, another innovation for this year’s La Ruta. The breakaway enabled him to maintain a lead until the end of the race (at the Terramall Shopping Center) and Montoya won the orange stage winner’s jersey.
However, Federico RamÃrez is still confident about the following two days, though he didn’t look that strong today compared to his arch rival Montoya.
As for the ladies, race leader Adriana Rojas (BEMOSA-PQ) confirmed an amazing performance by winning her second stage in a row. She completed the 78 kilometers in 5:27:10. Second place today went to Canadian Sandra Walter who moved up to third place overall.
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