Those of you who have been paying attention will have noticed the AlpacAttack stage race reports over the past week or so. Well, the race concluded over the weekend, so here’s the news from stages four, five and six, plus the final results.
Fancy giving the route across Patagonia and Chile a go next year? Get yourself over to the event website and have a shufty, although bear in mind you’ll need to be prepared to deal with volcanic eruptions, bush fires and what the organisers have labelled as ‘extreme weather conditions’ – as well as the normal stage-race stuff of the piffling matter of propelling yourself and your bike across a substantial swathe of South America against the clock…
Stage four – crazy weather and a sensible shortening
Around four weeks ago the final stage of AlpacAttack was under jeopardy due to an erupting volcano close to Pucon. Two weeks later, stages three and five were close to being cancelled due to the bush fires that have been ravaging southern Chile, and today stage four had to be rerouted because of snow and extreme weather conditions on the flanks of Lonquimay volcano. Such is the nature of racing in some of the world’s most unpredictable environments.
The super calm conditions that blessed the area for the preceding weeks had changed overnight and when the riders awoke to torrential rain and a snowline a mere 500m above Lonquimay’s elevation, the race officials knew they had to take drastic measures. The race was scheduled to peak out at 1,850m but with reports of over 10cm of snow at this elevation and sub-zero temperatures, and with the competitor’s safety foremost in mind, the decision was made to reroute the course. Instead of a 130km loop, the race would now be out and back to the second water station; 140km in total with over 3,000m of ascent.
With a flat start , the main pack were reluctant to push the pace, allowing Zbigniew Wizner of Poland to break away and build a considerable lead. Once the climbing began though, Yuki Ikeda once again excelled, reeling in Zbigniew and completing the 140km course in a little under 6.5 hours, 19 minutes ahead of second-placed Federico Guerra of Uruguay.
Sonya Looney took her foot off the throttle today, but still finished in first place in the open female category, 41 minutes ahead of Wendy Lyall, while Jorge Vidart of Uruguay consolidated his place as top 50+ male category winner with a 10-minute cushion over Pablo Rodriguez.
Stage Five – one almighty up, one almighty down
After the toils of yesterday’s six to eight hour, 140km epic, the AlpacAttackers were looking forward to a slightly more ‘pleasant’ experience during stage five, and they weren’t to be disappointed. Clear blue skies, views of snow-capped volcanoes and an ambient temperature of around 19 degrees C greeted the riders as they congregated on the start line for the 70km race to Melipeuco.
The course today was basically split into two sections: a 35km, 900m ascent, followed by a 35km, 900m descent. The usual suspects were once again setting the regular pattern predominant over the last four days, with Yuk Ikeda breaking away on the first serious gradient and Nuno Miguel Mano Jorge, Guillero Torres Alvares and Sonya Looney giving chase.
The top riders didn’t have it their own way however as a chasing pack of four – Eduardo Bispo, Matt Ewonus, Federico Guerra and Wendy Lyall – pushed them all the way to the line, with Wendy finishing only 20 seconds back from Sonya who also put in a great sprint finish to take 3rd place overall.
Yuki increased his lead over Nuno, by a further three minutes to lead by 54 minutes going into the final stage.
Zbigniew Wizner of Poland again put in a strong solo effort to take the men’s 50+ category stage win, but the overall battle in that category will be between Jorge Vidart of Uruguay and Pablo Rodriguez of Argentina, with 18 minutes separating them, and 106km left of racing tomorrow.
Stage 6 – The Finale!
The riders soon warmed from a cold and frosty start on the final stage of AlpacAttack with a 40km climb over the flanks of the Sollipulli volcano. This was to be the most technical riding of the race, with 25% climbs, river crossings and some serious rocky sections to negotiate, followed by a 60km descent, the latter half with a howling tailwind.
Unfortunately the lead motorbike took the front riders along the wrong trail for around 5km. At this point Yuki Ikeda and Pablo Rodriguez were leading by around three minutes, but by the time they had been diverted back to the correct route they were behind a large majority of the remaining competitors.
Eduardo Bispo of Brasil crossed the finish line in first position, with Guillermo Torres Alvares of Argentina second and Nuno Miguel Mano Jorge third, but when the time differences were applied, the order changed to Yuki and Eduardo in equal first and Nuno in third.
As the first riders started to arrive, the skies clouded over and the heavens opened, leaving some of the later riders very wet and cold, but with hot springs awaiting at the finish line most were soon able to warm up. Unfortunately Tania Tryhorn was out in the rain for too long and was starting to suffer from hypothermia and had to withdraw 3kms from the finish line. Paul Cooper, who had taken a wrong turn early on in the stage, was the last rider home in just over seven hours, bringing to a close the AlpacAttack 2015.
After a soak in the hot springs, the riders were then transferred to the Gran Hotel in Pucon for the final prize giving ceremony.
