La Ruta gallery: One of the world's toughest races

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It may only be four days long, but La Ruta de los Conquistadores has become one of the best-known and loved mountain bike stage races in the world. A look at the images from this year's race give you an indication why this is the case.

Rain, immense terrain, spectacular scenery - everything an epic mountain bike race needs. Take a look through some of the images captured from this year's event and find out why the likes of former Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras, mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez and former world superbike rider Ben Bostrom immersed themselves in the race.

Click here for complete coverage of this year's event, and be sure to stay tuned to Cyclingnews as we bring you all the news and coverage of the 2010 race.