The stage, marked by rain, saw the leaders increase the advantages.
From yesterday's dry and dusty soil in Villafranca de Córdoba, to the rain in Córdoba. Of little intensity, but continuous, the drops of water have transformed an already hard stage into a day to remember.
A route of 80 kilometers and almost 2.000 meters in altitude, with several key points. The first, the famous Blowout. It was there that in the men's category, the couple formed by Hans Becking and José Días of the BUFF Megamo MTB Team, selected the group to leave it in six units. Leaders included.
Another key point was the train tracks, a very technical stretch to give way to the last dish of the day, the descent through Los Escalones.
In the meantime it started to rain and Rabensteiner felt a bit of the cold combined with the effort of the first attack, this made him slow down a bit and in fact on the central climb they suffered a slight delay from the head of the race. In the last part of the stage, to fill the gap, they pushed really hard, they climbed back to third place, but just when they had hit the 5th podium in 5 stages, Alleman suffered a fall in a technical section. Nothing to worry about, but a nice blow to the arm and knee that made him arrive sore at the finish line about 2 'late. Despite this somewhat unlucky day, they remain firmly in second place in the overall standings, which will be played tomorrow in the last stage.
"Barring unforeseen events it will be really difficult to recover the wide margin that Seewald and Stosek have on us, but we can only be happy with this Andalucia Bike Race so far, 3 stage wins and lots of good sensations”- Fabian Rabensteiner.
"We tried to control the race from the start and it worked. It was a great day. We have a good lead for tomorrow, so we don't need to take too many risks”, Both drivers underlined at the end of the stage.
In the women's category, Amy Wakefield announced yesterday after her fourth win. It was time to handle the lead. For the couple formed by Lüthi and Wakefield, the stage served to save time and ensure the final victory a little more. Keeping an eye on their rivals, they lost only 10 ”at the finish to the Estonian Greete Steinburg and the Swiss Janina Wüst. Third place went to Lithuanian Katazona Sosna and Greta Karasiovaite, who, after a difficult start, were finally able to be in front.
" Winning always makes you happy. We didn't expect that, honestly. It was a great surprise. Rain wasn't a big deal”Commented Steinburg and Wust after taking their first win.
STAGE - UCI MARATHON SERIES MEN
Andreas Seewald - Martin Stosek CANYON NORTHWAVE MTB TEAM 03:07:19
Hans Becking - José Dias BUFF MEGAMO MTB TEAM 03:07:41
Martin Frey - Simon Stiebjahn SINGER RACING TEAM 03:08:54
STAGE - UCI MARATHON SERIES WOMEN
Greete Steinburg - Janina Wüst MTB PRO Merchandising Racing 03:55:36
Amy Wakefield - Ariane Lüthi Symbtech / Pump for Peace
03:55:46 Katazina Sosna - Greta Karasiovaite TORPADO FACTORY TEAM
