Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano

Stage 6

CÓRDOBA, 26/02/2016.- This Friday, Periklis Ilias and Tiago Ferreira proclaimed themselves winners of the closest fought edition in the history of Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano, with an overall time of 18:38:24. The pair, of Team Protek by Marconi, managed to recover the 41 seconds lead that Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata (18:40:58) had on them before the start of the sixth and final stage, and certified their victory over the Topeak Ergon duo, who had arrived in Andalucía as the big favourites. The third place, both in today’s stage and in the general classification, goes to the Spaniards David Valero and Pablo Rodríguez (18:55:28), of the MMR Factory Team.

Periklis positively summarised their participation. "We have enjoyed the race very much, the stages have been impressive, with many singletracks. It has been very good training for us because we’ve got the Cape Epic shortly. I would like to return here next year,” he said.

Tiago, on his part, explained that “we knew it would be the shortest stage and we had to push from the start. And that’s what we did, managing to open up a gap and controlling the distance until the finish line. The race is very good, the weather has also helped us a lot, and the stages are very good too. I love this race.”

In the Elite Women’s category, the winners of the event were Sally Bigham and Katrin Leumann (23:28:38), of the Topeak Ergon Team, who imposed their overwhelming dominance over Sandra Santanyes and Mayalen Noriega (24:55:58), of the MMR Women’s Team, and Rocío Martín and María Díaz (25:18:31), of the Primaflor Orbea Team.

With this title, Bigham has already proclaimed herself four-time champion of the Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano, with previous wins in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions. “It's a very demanding six-day race. I didn’t come over in the last two editions, and I have seen that there are new trails and singletracks which I hadn’t seen before, as well as very tough climbs. It has been a great race and we’re very satisfied with the result,” said Sally.

The winners of the Master 30 were José Carlos and Francisco Javier Macías (20:11:49), of the Bioracer-Sportbici Team; The Master 40, David Franco and Rosendo Márquez (21:45:44), of the Color Q-John Zurawski Team; The Master 50, Stefan Hartz and Knut Arne Dalsjö (23:33:54), of the Hedmark Terrengsykkel 100 Team; the Master Women, Carmen Campaña and Elena Vilches (29:43:25), of the Raceontrail Sport-Bike Team; and the Mixed, Annabella Stropparo and Piero Pellegrini (23:55:29), of the Amici di Annabella Team.

Stage 5

CÓRDOBA, 25/02/2016.- The Swedes Gustav Larsson and Karl Friberg, of the the Scott-Cycling Team, surprised the big favourites of the Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano and won the fifth stage with a time of 3:33:48, ahead of Ferreira-Ilias (3:34:09), of Team Protek by Marconi, followed by Hynek-Lakata (3:34:29) of the Topeak Ergon Team.

Friberg commented on the key factors to their victory. "We started the third last descent in first place. We’re good at descents, we know we have a good technique, and rode at full speed and opened up a gap. We took some risks and went ahead,” he said.

In the Elite Women’s category, Bigham-Leumann (4:34:52), of the Topeak Ergon Team, wrapped up the fifth consecutive stage victory, ahead of an energetic Santanyes-Noriega (4:39:26), of the MMR Women’s Team, followed by Dohrn-Diesner (4:57:11), the youngest pair of the category, of the Zwilingscraft-Mondaker Pschik Racing Team.

In the general classification, the men's podium is still led by Hynek-Lakata (15:39:39), threatened by Ferreira-Ilias (15:40:22), with the Spaniards Valero-Rodríguez (15:49:09), of the MMR Factory Team, somewhat further away. The women’s podium is composed of Bigham-Leumann, Santanyes-Noriega and Martín-Díaz, in that order.

Stage 4

CÓRDOBA, 24/02/2016. Kristian Hynek and Alban Lakata, of Topeak Ergon, won the fourth stage with a time of 3:38:11, which allowed them to regain the overall lead from Periklis Ilias and Tiago Ferreira, of Team Protek by Marconi. The second place went to the Cordobean Juan Pedro Trujillo and his partner Víctor Manuel Fernández (3:38:37), who finished ahead of Frederic Gombert and Vincent Arnaud (3:40:31), of Team cycletires.com.

Lakata was very satisfied after crossing the finish line. "It was a perfect stage for us. It was quite cold and the singletracks were very nice. We will try to keep the leaders jersey on Thursday without risking it too much, as it is very important to avoid accidents or incidents because we don’t have a very large margin over second place." Likewise, Lakata also mentioned that, "the key factor was the last climb, very tough and demanding. It was at this point that we tried to open up a gap and tighten the pace. And that’s what we did, and we were able to keep a good distance from our rivals."

Sally Bigham and Katrin Leumann (4:38:37), of Topeak Ergon, won once again in the Elite Women’s category, beating Sandra Santanyes and Mayalen Noriega (4:41:46), of the MMR Women Team, followed by Rocío Martín and María Díaz (4:48:40), of the Primaflor Orbea Team.

Sally explained the problem that they had. "We had a mechanical problem. It wasn’t something very serious, but if we hadn’t worked together and fixed the problem it could have cost us the lead. We have realised that we shouldn’t take so many risks because you never know what can happen." Of course, her partner Katrin said that, "we are very satisfied with the result and the overall classification. I found myself with tired legs, but Sally helped me to ride at a good pace "

As a result, Hynek-Lakata (12:05:10) lead the general classification in the men’s category, followed by Ilias-Ferreira (12:06:12), and the Spaniards David Valero-Pablo Rodríguez (12:10:35) in third place. In the women's podium, Bigham-Leumann (14:56:07) remain untouchable, far ahead of Martín-Díaz (16:07:04), and Santanyes-Noriega (16:14:14).

Stage 3

JAÉN, 23/02/2016.- Sally Bigham, three-time champion of the Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano, (2011, 2012, 2013), is asserting her status as the super favourite to win this year. The English lady, from the Topeak Ergon team, took her third consecutive stage victory with her partner Katrin Leumann, with a time of 3:43:11. Rocío Martín and María Díaz of the Primaflor Orbea team came in second (3:54:04), followed by Jamie Dinkins and Laura Terradas of the Imparables team (3:57:52).

It was very tight finish in the Elite Men category. It was Alban Lakata and Kristian Hynek (2:59:31), of the Topeak Ergon team, who seized victory, just ahead of Periklis Ilias and Tiago Ferreira (2:59:31), of Team Protek by Marconi, followed by Jeremiah Bishop and Erik Kleinhans (3:00:07), of the Topeak Ergon team.

In the General Classification, Ilias and Ferreira (8:25:38) are still setting the pace, with Hynek and Lakata close on their heels (8:26:58), followed by Rodríguez and Valero (8:28:31) who are ready to strike. The women's podium is obviously dominated by Bigham and Leumann (10:17:30), followed by Díaz and Martín (11:18:24), and Santanyes and Noriega (11:32:27), both quite far back.

Martín and Valero, both Andalusian and Spanish Champions, explained the key factors of the stage. "Both María and I knew the terrain well. We took it easy, gradually increasing the pace until the finish line. The key factors of the stage were the descents, more so than the climbs, as apart from being technical, they were long and there was little rest; as a result you couldn’t get sidetracked for a minute,” said Rocío.

Valero, on his part, said that "it was a day to recover from Monday, which was really hard. We went out to control the general classification without forcing it too much and we are satisfied with the result.” The Granadian is delighted with the event: "It's the first time that I’m participating in the Andalucía Bike Race presented by Shimano. The territory and the routes are spectacular. Additionally, in the coming days the Córdoba legs will be 100% Mountain Bike. We’ll have to repeat this for various years, without a doubt." His partner, Pablo, said that “we’ve got good feelings and we rode at a good pace, we’ll give it our best to finish as high as possible." <úp>