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A Puzzling Day

Rob Howard / 12.11.2009

Teams who have not been short-cut are now on the longest section of the race, the 160km mountain bike ride which finishes stage 4. Many, if not all, teams are having to cut this section short, realising they cannot collect all the checkpoints, so are scattered across the countryside and it is difficult to assess where they might go and the impact this section will have on the outcome of the race.

Almost all are heading for CP42a however, which is by a dam on the Tagus River and where they can stop for some food if they wish. There is a large marquee set up here where the race scorers are currently working and as darkness is falling some teams are coming in to use the light to recheck their maps. Team Accelerate were jus t in here reassessing their route and checking their headlamps and batteries, and several other teams have come in to eat and rest for a while. Accelerate said they'd had a hard day and although their road-ride short cut on this stage had worked they were not sure if they could stick to their plan to get the rest of the checkpoints on the section.

Helly Hansen Prunesco also passed through a short while ago, but they didn't stop or get off their bikes. They punched and rode straight off again and seem to be maintaining a good pace. Their rivals at the top of the leaderboard have not yet arrived here but that may mean they are scoring more checkpoints on this stage.

The first team to arrive here were the Czech team OpavaNet at 13.47, followed by Ertips, two of the teams who have stayed well to the front of the race and are now hoping to play out their race strategy with a high scoring finish.

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