Think marathon racing is struggling in enduro’s shadow? Think again. Single-day and stage races are cramming the calendar again this year, both in the UK and overseas. Here’s the first report from AlpacAttack, a six-day event spanning Patagonia and Chile…
With the Chilean bushfires extinguished, Villarrica volcano subdued,and at least a preceding seven days of beautifully calm weather and blue skies, the riders of the first ever AlpacAttack could have been excused for their complacency towards stage one, which was billed as an easy introduction to Patagonia, with just 106km of rolling gravel to navigate.
Mother Nature had other ideas, however, and the infamous Patagonian wind had grown in strength during the night and was gusting from the direction the riders were headed, Villa Peheunia.
With adrenalin pumping and thoughts of a first AlpacAttack stage victory on the riders’ minds, the field was ripped apart within the first kilometre, with Brasilian riders Nuno Miguel Mano Jorge and Eduardo Bispo opening up a two-minute lead on the chasing pack of eight riders, by the first feed station at the 20km point.
Yuki Ikeda, of Japan, who was in the chasing pack, suffered a major set back when he punctured at around 60km and was left without a working pack to catch the front riders who were steadily increasing their lead.
The rolling terrain and increasing wind, however, split the chasing pack and Yuki was able to pick them off one by one and, with a massive display of determination, fought his way back to the two Brazilians, eventually pulling away from Eduardo and crossing the finish line one second ahead of Nuno and three minutes ahead of Eduardo.
Sonya Ewonus held her own with the men and finished strongly in 7th overall and first in the female category. Wendy Lyall and Mireille Montminy finished together, 2nd and 3rd respectively, 34 minutes after Sonya.
The men’s 50+ category was a close fought battle with Jorge Vidart of Uruguay, Zbigniew Wizner of Poland and Pablo Rodriguez of Brasil finishing in that order with only five minutes separating them.
