On the second day of racing riders moved into the Andes mountains via a two hour van ride. This is the land of the Chilean cowboys, full of “rucos”, old constructions of stone used today by the cowboys for shelter when they move the cows and horses from one side of the mountain range to the other.
The first stage, Rucos de Agua, was a very natural track, with very fast and technical, marked by a couple of climbs that really got the blood flowing. As Cedric Gracia said “This is enduro!”
The battle for the win on the first stage was fought among the French compatriots, but it was Francois Bailly-Maitre who took first place with 11: 53.03 followed very closely by Jerome Clementz with 11.53.35 and in third place the Chilean National Champ Guga Ortiz with 11.56.37.
Among the women, the undisputed champion started making the day’s schedule. Tracy Moseley took first place with a time of 13: 21.09 followed by Casey Brown with 14: 13.70 and Emily Slaco was in in third place with 14: 40.79.
The second and last special of the day, Paico Pilar de Piedra, marked a change of pace with respect to the previous circuit.
Jerome was the leader of this special with a time of 10.46.82 followed by Milciades Jaque who was second with 10.47.49 and finally in third place was Yoann Barelli with 10.48.68. Tracy did not give up her lead with a time of 12: 35.05 followed by Casey with 13: 03.64 and third place Pauline Dieffenthaler with 13: 05.42.
The race ended early which allowed the riders to rest in camp and enjoy a good hot-dog post race to recover and share. The general results chart of Day 2 left Jerome as the winner followed by Francois and closing the podium of the day was our great national promise Guga Ortiz. This is just beginning and the Chileans are already giving much to talk about; let’s see how they continue the next few days.
Among the women, Tracy was leading without giving an inch to Casey who continues to push unfailingly. Finally Pauline was third.
With the results today the General remains very interesting as Jerome keeps the tip followed very closely by Milciades Jaque, who finished third last year. And speaking of third place, François Bailly-Maitre is less than a second away from Micha.
For the ladies, Tracey Moseley has a considerable lead over her teammate, Casey Brown, who also has a solid lead over Emily Slaco.
Full Results Here
