There is a certain mystique about heading overseas to ride and race your bike. If you’ve never travelled to pedal in anger it is easy to romanticise the experience. The climbs, the trails, the #fullpro experience, the class of European riding and racing (or other areas) and of course the chance to benchmark yourself against […]
Reef to Reef Stage Two
After having such a great time yesterday, Mike and I had a pretty average recovery and a revival of dodgy sick symptoms (me especially) and decided (excruciatingly) that it would be wise to sit the second day of Reef to Reef out. This nearly broke our hearts, especially when people started returning from the stage […]
Welcome to the jungle at La Leyenda del Dorado
“It has been the best finish of all the Leyendas.” That’s how the Colombian cyclist Juan Jacob Cerón summarised the arrival to Neira on Thursday, August 2nd during the fourth stage of the Leyenda del Dorado 2018. He and Jesús Garzón crossed the finish line in second place in the Open Male category. “It has been the most […]
Colombians rule supreme on Stage three at La Leyenda
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 […]
New leaders on day 3 at La Leyenda
Tuesday was a cool, damp day in Caldas but one that was definitely warmed up by the people of Arauca, Irra, La Felisa, La Merced y Salamina, where the locals made sure they didn’t miss the spectacle of the second stage of La Leyenda del Dorado 2018 passing by. With 250 racers from 21 countries, they all experienced an extreme stage yesterday due to the incessant rain and […]
Colombians on top at La Leyenda Stage 1
Solid strategy and tactics paid off during the first stage of La Leyenda del Dorado for the riders from Boyacá, Héctor Leonardo Páez and Diego Alfonso Arias, of Team Giant Liv Polimedical, Italy. Catch up on the prologue The pair took the victory on Monday 30th July on the second day of the most important mountain bike race in Colombia, with a time of 2 hours, 54 […]
Prologue gets La Leyenda del Dorado 2018 started
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 […]
Relive the highlights of the 2018 BIKE Transalp
The BIKE Transalp is a stage race like no other. With 7 days of riding point to point across the Alps. The sense of a journey can be missing from modern stage races, where riders are settled into cost-effective towns for more than a night, and toured through manicured bike parks. But Transalp is one […]
How to make your paired stage race a success
Here at MarathonMTB.com we are firm believers that paired stage races create some of the best mountain bike experiences. Mountain biking is often viewed as a sport for individuals – and it is. But mountain biking also offers so many things that are best experienced with others. The general rhythm of a stage race means […]
Sky high in Sri Lanka
The sense of impending doom that lay over me from the early hours of this morning can’t be underestimated. After two stages of the Rumble in the Jungle stage race I keep feeling like I’ve got to the finish by the skin of my teeth. I probably feel like that after any stage of any […]