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La Ruta de los Conquistadores 2011 Stage 3 Recap

Press Release / 05.11.2011

While Wells made sure Akerson didn’t gain on his lead, Colombia’s Luis Mejia again took off on an early flyer like in stage two to win the day in 3hrs 28mins 42secs. Although Mejia’s gutsy solo victory moved him into third place overall it didn’t dent the top-two spots held by Wells and Akerson. Mejia’s second stage win of the four-stage race placed him third overall 25:24 behind Wells and 15:06 behind Akerson.

At the start of the 79km stage Wells held a 7:11 lead over Akerson, so hepushed the pace of the main group in an effort to pressure the race-leading American. Together the group — consisting of Akerson; Wells; five-time La Ruta champ Lico Ramirez along with a teammate, Moises Hernandez; and Dennis Porras — started up the paved road toward the fog-shrouded10,000-foot Irazú Volcano. But as the pavement pitched up and Akerson drove on riders began to crack.

First it was Hernandez to be spit out; then Porras was dropped. Finally Costa Rican hero Ramirez started going backward.

As Ackerson put on the pressure he was able to open a 30- to 50-second gap on Wells, who was doing a bit of rubber-banding depending on the gradient. At the top of the climb fog cut visibility down to about 25 feet and dropped temperatures into the low 50s. Akerson went through the feed zone about 45 seconds ahead of Wells.

Ackerson and Wells rode together until near the finish when a short climb accentuated Ackerson’s fatigue, which allowed Wells to finish just more than three minutes ahead. After three stages the Durango, Colorado resident has a total time of 13:09:57. Ackerson is 10:18 back and Mejia is in third at 25:24.

Women’s Race

For the third day in a row Costa Rica’s Adriana Rojas dominated the women’s contest crossing the line in 4:42:28. Through an interpreter, Rojas said she is aware of the daily win-lose nature of La Ruta and wanted to take care of herself and the bike during the stage to stay full strength for Saturday’s final stage.

Louise Kobin, a five-time La Ruta women’s champ, finished second on the day 4:43 back. It was Kobin’s best stage of the race so far.

Rebecca Rusch, who finished second on stages one and two finished third on the day after a rough first half on the course. She said her plan before the start of the stage was to “ride away� from everyone early on.

Overall, Rojas leads second-place Rusch by nearly 24 minutes and Kobin by nearly 50 minutes.


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Overall Standings
1. Todd Wells (USA) - 13:09:57
2. Rom Akerson (CRC) - 13:20:15
3. Luis Mejía (COL) - 13:35:21
4. Milton Ramos (HON) - 13:38:01
5. Lico Ramírez (CRC) - 13:46:27
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1. Adriana Rojas (CRC) - 17:12:49
2. Rebecca Rusch (USA) - 17:36:46
3. Louise Kobin (USA) - 18:02:13
4. Jane Rynbrandt (USA) - 19:21:46
5. Ligia Madrigal (CRC) - 20:46:06

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