Los Andes mountains continues to show its impressive trails.
Day two in the Andes Pacifico was held in the Andes and really showcased the amazing trails for enduro racing. With only three liaison and three special stages the race was as hard as yesterday’s stage one.
The riders were transported to 2,600m altitude where they began the longest special stage of the race with over 1,500 vertical metres and had all kinds of landscapes and terrain, from the steppes to the wonderful mountain range forests mixed with cactus and rocks. Jerome Clementz had told us that he liked long stages and won the stage by over 20 seconds followed by compatriot François Bailly-Maitre. In the women’s race, Anka Martin extends her lead with a time of 28:45.
The second special was characterised by being much more technical and having many loose curves giving a total stage time of a little over eight minutes. Here again the Frenchman Jerome Clementz won in 8:11 followed by Kiwi Chris Johnston with 8:31. Anka Martin again overcame her nearest competitor Pauline Dieffenthaler .
The third stage came after a long liaison that ended with a walk that left sweat marks on dusty soil. This SS was a surprise to everyone because a type of very sandy soil turned the stage into some type of SX track. In fact Paul Smail came down saying that the special test had almost all curves, ridden with feet out, moto-style. Here again Clementz demonstrated his mastery, taking home the special with a time of 7:13 and a margin of 20 seconds over Lars Sternberg who did his run followed by a chopper shooting a video for Smith Optics.
The Andes Pacifico day 2 ended again with Jerome Clementz on top followed by Nico Prudencio, François Bailly-Maitre and Chris Johnston. Women continue to be led by Anka Martin who is followed by Pauline Dieffenthaler .
Pictures by: Gary Perkin, Sven Martin, Dave Trumpore and Claudio Olguin.
