Triple XCM World Champion Alban Lakata and his Czech powerhouse partner Kristian Hynek have won the 49km prologue of La Leyenda del Dorado this Sunday, the most important and prestigious mountain bike race in Colombia.
The racers from the Male Elite category took 2 hours and 4 minutes to complete the route between La Plaza de Bolívar, Manizales, and the La Rochela recreational centre in Palestina, Caldas. Second place went to the Portuguese Tiago Ferreira, also Marathon World Champion from 2016, and Hans Becking from Holland, current La Leyenda Champion, clocking 2 hours and 5 minutes. The podium of the first stage was completed with Belgian Jorris Massaer, also a Champion from last year, and the Portuguese José Dias, who came home in 2 hours and 6 minutes.
Meanwhile in the Female Elite category, the top pair were Colombian Mónica Calderon and Venezuelan Liliana Uzcategui, crossing the line with a time of 2 hours 54 minutes. They were closely followed by Yosiana Quintero and Leidy Mera, clocking 2 hours 57 minutes and third place went to Portuguese Ilda Pereira and Mayalen Noriega from Spain, with a time of 2 hours and 59 minutes.
The third edition of the race, that’s taking place for the second consecutive year in the towns of Caldas, such as Palestina, Neira, Aranzazu and Salamina, kicked off this morning at 9am from La Plaza de Bolívar, Manizales, where the Legends were cheered on by hundreds of Manizaleños. Local riders such as Nelson Cardona, who races with a prosthetic right leg, were given an extra special send off in what is one of Manizales’ iconic locations.
This energy was felt by the mountain bikers, with the warmth of the Caldenses and stunning landscapes fascinating all of the 250 mountain bikers from 21 countries in total.
The prologue served as a warm up for the racers thinking about the demanding stages to come and locals from villages such as La Cuchilla del Salado and Alto de Lisboa cheered on the mountain bikers, some of whom had rode parts of the route the day before.
On Monday 30th July racers will take on the first stage, entitled Coffee, a 70km circuit, that starts and finishes in La Rochela. The route starts to steepen too, with ascents up to Haciendas Santa Elena, La Miranda and Moravita, where the cyclists will be severely tested in this seven stage race that covers 466km altogether.
Prologue Results
Male Elite
1. Alban Lakata (Austria) Kristian Hynek (Czech Republic) / 02:04:29
2. Tiago Ferreira (Portugal) Hans Becking (Holland) / 02:05:29
3. Joris Massaer (Belgium) José Días (Portugal) / 02:06:02
4. Hector Páez (Colombia) Diego Arias (Colombia) / 02:08:31
5. Karl Platt (Germany) Tim Boehme (Germany) / 02:09:54
Female Elite
1. Mónica Calderón (Colombia) Liliana Uzcátegui (Venezuela) / 02:54:08
2. Yosiana Quintero (Colombia) Leidy Mera (Colombia) / 02:57:19
3. Ilda Pereira (Portugal) Mayalen Noriega (Spain) / 02:59:18
4. Celina Carpinteiro (Portugal) Sandra Jorda (Spain): 03:08:48
Male Open
1. Juan Cerón (Colombia) Jesús Garzón (Colombia) / 02:25:05
2. Oscar Flórez (Colombia) Carlos Serna (Colombia) / 02:25:44
3. Julien Delaet (Belgium) Sébastian Pelé (France) / 02:27:25
Masters
1. Jorge Valencia (Colombia) Guiovanny Cantor (Colombia) / 02:39:042.
2. Marcelo Villegas (Colombia) Pablo Restrepo (Colombia) / 02:41:37
3. Arllery Quintero (Colombia) Andrés Montes (Colombia) / 02:53:28
Grandmasters
1. Adolfo Buratovich (Argentina) Lorenzo Milesi (Switzerland) / 03:11:46
2. Eugenio Pineda (Colombia) Carlos Rendón (Colombia) / 03:29:21
3. Ross Kappele (Canada) Marcus Boyle (Canada) / 04:22:14
Mixed
1. Angy Espinosa (Colombia) Julián Rincón (Colombia) / 03:02:23
2. Vladi Pokobova (Belgium) Hans Panckaert (Belgium) / 03:11:15
3. Cristina Barberan (Spain) Juan Morales (Spain) / 03:30:06