The 27 km third stage of La Leyenda del Dorado 2018 was another day where the Colombian stage race showed just how varied it is. The sun was out, and the XC stage went the way of the Colombians in the Elite categories.
Racers completed three laps on a route that stood out for its technicality and and this was where Colombians Héctor Leonardo Páez and Diego Alfonso Arias made their quality count, as well as Yosiana Quintero and Leidy Mera, both Panamerican Cross Country mountain bike champions.
Páez and Arias, winners of the inaugural La Leyenda 2016, clocked in at 1 hour, 19 minutes and 39 seconds, while Quintero and Mera completed the course in 1 hour, 55 minutes and 26 seconds. The General Classification leaders, Portuguese Tiago Ferreira and Dutch Hans Becking, came in second with a time of 1 hour, 22 minutes and 51 seconds, whilst Colombian Mónica Calderón and Venezuelan Liliana Uzcátegui came in third, with a time of 2 hours and 16 segundos.
“The stage favoured us because we are cross country specialists and we’ve suffered a bit in the long stages. Our strength is in the technical side of the sports and this worked to our advantage,” mentioned Yosiana.
Diego Arias was optimistic about the decisive stages to come and is confident that good teamwork will help them fight for top spot against Ferreira and Becking. “We felt better today, and much different to the previous day where I didn’t feel my strength and had trouble in the climb. Today favoured us because of the paved parts which allowed us to descend better than our rivals”.
The third stage was short but explosive. The Legends showed fatigue on their faces, after such a demanding day yesterday with the 97 km between La Rochela y Salamina. However, good weather was on their side today to warm up more their legs for Friday’s Queen Stage on the slopes of Nevado del Ruiz.
Once again the people from Salamina came out on to the streets to see the cyclists for the third year in a row, the sun shone and constant clapping and cheering accompanied the participants from 21 countries.
On Thursday the race will head to the town of Neira, with a 75 km stage that passes through Aranzazu first and then arrives to the town close to Manizales, where they’ll no doubt be welcomed by ecstatic cheers.
Stage Three, Salamina XC
Male Elite
1. Héctor Leonardo Páez (COL) & Diego Arias (COL): 01:19:39
2. Tiago Ferreira (PRTl) & Hans Becking (NLD): 01:22:51
3. Alban Lakata (AUT) & Kristian Hynek (CZE): 01:23:20
4. Fabio Castañeda (COL) & Jhon Botero (COL): 01:25:53
5. Karl Platt (DEU) & Tim Boehme (DEU): 01:30:25
Female Elite
1. Yosiana Quintero (COL) & Leidy Mera (COL): 01:55:26
2. Ilda Pereira (PRT) & Mayalen Noriega (ESP): 02:00:10
3. Mónica Calderón (COL)& Liliana Uzcátegui (VEN): 02:00:16
4. Celina Carpinteiro (PRT) & Sandra Jorda (ESP): 02:10:08
Male Open
1. Juan Ceron (COL) & Jesus Garzón (COL): 01:33:09
2. Julien Delaet (BEL) & Sebastian Pelé (FRA): 01:35:07
3. Oscar Flórez (COL) & Carlos Serna (COL): 01:36:14
Masters
1. Jorge Valencia (COL) & Guiovanny Cantor (COL): 01:44:40
2. Ignace Spruyt (BEL) & Abraao Azevedo (BRA): 01:46:40
3. Arllery Quintero (PRT) & Andrés Montes (COL): 01:58:44
Grandmasters
1. Adolfo Buratovich (ARG) & Lorenzo Milesi (CH): 01:28:39
2. Eugenio Pineda (COL) & Carlos Rendón (COL): 01:43:57
3. Jeff Taylor (CAN) & Robert Rennie (CAN): 02:04:16
Mixed
1. Angy Espinosa (COL) & Jorge González (COL): 02:06:30
2. Vladi Pokobova (BEL) & Hans Planckaert (BEL): 02:12:58
3. Cristian Barberan (COL) & Jorge González (COL): 02:22:52