La Ruta 1: Prado, Rojas take lead
Heinz Soerweg, Manuel Prado, Marc Trayter tackle the heat of stage 1. (J. Andrés Vargas)
Costa Rica's Manuel Prado claimed the opening stage of the 2009 La Ruta de los Conquistadores on Wednesday in Costa Rica. Prado took victory over Heinz Soerweg of Austria and Spaniard Marc Trayter, as Adriana Rojas won the women's race.
Prado now leads the open men's general classification ahead of Trayter and Robert Heras, who finished in the fourth fastest time for the day.
Welcome to the jungle
A field of 225 racers from 17 different countries took to the trails of Costa Rica in on the 108 kilometre first stage of the La Ruta de los Conquistadores from Jaco Beach to San Jose.
An early lead out of the Carara National Park by three-time Vuelta a España winner Heras, one of the favourites for the race, was short-lived as he succumbed to the effect of a stomach bug picked up the night before the race.
Prado, Soerweg and Trayter initiated a rapid ascent towards the Central Valley, leaving behind Heras and Milton Ramos (Spain). The quintet had formed after a veritable mud bath in the village of Carara.
The steady tempo set by Prado and master's competitor Soerweg was enough to get them to the finish line within a second of one another. The win was Prado's first ever stage victory at La Ruta, and dedicated his triumph to his brother, who passed away three years ago.
Spain's Trayter and Heras followed in third and fourth place, respectively.
Fifth placed Jeremiah Bishop (Team Monavie-Cannondale) has returned to La Ruta and is determined to make up for the title he missed out on in 2007. The American had an unfortunate accident back in 2007 which saw him hospitalised on stage three.
Bishop suffered mechanical problems towards the beginning of the race, but rallied strongly to finish the day fifth on open men's general classification.
For complete results and photos, visit Cyclingnews.com. To follow BikeRadar's Twitter postings, click twitter.com/bikeradar.
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