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Cross country:

Roadie Vargas wins Costa Rican national cross country title

By:
Cycling News
Published:
July 19, 2010, 20:47,
Updated:
July 19, 2010, 20:50

Rojas victorious in women's race

Paulo Vargas (Bufette Guzman Y Alvarez) celebrates winning the Costa Rican cross country national title.

Paulo Vargas (Bufette Guzman Y Alvarez) celebrates winning the Costa Rican cross country national title.

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Bufete Guzmán y Álvarez's Paulo Vargas took Costa Rica's cross country national title despite not being on the favorites' list before the race, held on Sunday, July 18, at the old National Horse Race Track, in the province of Cartago.

Vargas' achievement was the first major mountain bike win of his career. He completed the 30km. course on a time of 2:01:25. He is known more as a prodigious sprinter in the Costa Rican road peloton than an avid off-road cyclist.

"I would have never imagined this beautiful day. It was great to have beaten such a great group of riders, most of them really strong mountain bikers," Vargas said just a few seconds after crossing the finish line. "This is something you value when you're not one of the nominees".

Indeed, his victory was quite a surprise, even for the pre-race candidates like Paolo Montoya, of Italian team GT Brondello, and local legend Federico "Lico" Ramírez, of team BCR-Pizza Hut, who finished second and third.

Defending Champion, Sho Air-Specialized's Manuel Prado wasn't having a lucky day and had several mechanicals. His chain malfunctioned due to the severely muddy conditions along the track, therefore he dropped from the leading bunch with most of the race still ahead.

Vargas managed to come out atop the biggest ascent in first place thanks to his "hiking" skills.

"The mud made the terrain barely rideable, but the climb was definitely impossible," said Vargas. "I'm good with the bike on my shoulders and that was what helped me to overcome the rest of my colleagues, I think".

The champion completed the first lap with a 15-second advantage over Montoya and Ramirez, but was able to increase the gap as the race went on. At the end of it, he put 58 seconds on Montoya, and more than two minutes on multiple-time champion "Lico" Ramírez.

In women's race, Grupo ICE's Adriana Rojas took another Costa Rican title ahead of Avimil's Edith Guillén and Powerade-Merida's Sofía Morales.

BCR's Juan Fallas triumphed in the Under 23 category, while teammate Andrey Fonseca took the junior men's competition. Milagro Mena is the new red, white and blue jersey holder for the junior women.

Full Results

Elite men
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Paulo Vargas (Bufette Guzman Y Alvarez) 2:01:25  
2 Paolo Montoya (GT Brondello) 0:00:58  
3 Federico Ramirez (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:04:42  
4 Allan Cordero (Bufette Guzman Y Alvarez) 0:13:17  
5 Alexander Sanchez (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:17:03  
6 Omar Cisneros (Acipal) 0:23:00  
-1lap Adrian Rojas (Mini Super San Jorge)    
DNF Roger Ramirez (Repuesto Sansebastian R Y)    
DNF Daniel Garcia (Hellmann Wwl)    
DNF Vinicio Perez    
DNF Enrique Artavia (Citi Economy Blue)    
DNF Manuel Prado (Sho-Air/Specialized)    
Elite women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adriana Rojas (Grupo Ice) 1:41:13  
2 Edith Guillen (Avimil) 0:14:19  
3 Sofia Morales (Powerade Merida) 0:18:09  
4 Yesenia Villalta (Grupo Ice) 0:18:31  
5 Katerin Herrera (Avimil) 0:42:27  
Under 23 men
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Juan Carlos Fallas (BCR Pizza Hut) 2:25:30  
2 Harold Esquivel (Plycem Jps Giant) 0:04:09  
3 Marco Fernandez (Acipal-Aizara Tec) 0:06:09  
4 Jonathan Camacho (Montoya Team) 0:06:40  
5 Mario Meneses (Bufette Guzman Y Alvarez) 0:10:09  
-1lap Andres Ramirez (C.D. Belen)    
DNF Carlos Alberto Solis (Hotel Cipreses Monteverde)    
DNF Jimmy Cedeño (C.D. Cartago)    
DNF Luis Enrique Rojas (Abangares)    
DNF Vincent Gorgona (C.D. Barva)    
Junior men
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Andrey Fonseca (BCR Pizza Hut) 1:47:55  
2 Yosep Chavarria (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:01:35  
3 Romel Morales (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:04:35  
4 Bryan Villalobos (Plycem Jps Giant) 0:05:05  
5 Andres Alpizar (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:07:21  
6 Elias Vega (Plycem Jps Giant) 0:12:49  
7 Elio Vargas (ECC Santa Cruz) 0:14:13  
8 Daniel Bonilla (C.D. Paraiso) 0:15:04  
9 Victor Chale (BCR Pizza Hut) 0:23:07  
10 Yordy Sandoval (ECC Santa Cruz) 0:25:23  
11 Nathaniel Villanueva (C.D. San Jose)    
12 Jose Manuel Alvarado (C.D. Cartago) 0:27:16  
13 Erick Soto (C.D. Cartago) 0:28:22  
14 Jhonny Redondo (Plycem Jps Giant) 0:29:24  
15 Jorge Mario Moya (C.D. Paraiso) 0:30:13  
16 Jose Daniel Vargas (Ecomiel Ciclo Cafe) 0:32:11  
17 Jairo Bermudez (Buenos Aires) 0:34:04  
18 Anner Miguel Leiva (Acipal) 0:40:55  
19 Benjamin Pizarro (ECC Santa Cruz) 0:43:17  
20 Gerardo Guerrero (C. D: Belen) 0:43:21  
-1lap Pablo Rodriguez (Codea)    
-1lap Pablo Arce (BCR Pizza Hut)    
-1lap Emmanuel Brenes (C.D. Cartago)    
DNF Felipe Viquez (Codea)    
DNF Diego Alonso Solano (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Luis Fauricio Meneses (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Luis Diego Artavia (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Eder Hernan Cascante (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Asdrubal Cardenas (C.D. Cartago)    
DNF Omar Jose Cruz (ECC Santa Cruz)    
DNF Jordan Alvarez (ECC Santa Cruz)    
DNF Phillips Alfaro (Acipal)    
DNF Joaquin Rodriguez (C.D. Barva)    
DNF Fabian Vargas (Codea)    
DNF Luis Emilio Gutierrez (ECC Santa Cruz)    
DNF Marlon Quiros (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Francisco Jose Cabezas (C.D. Barva)    
DNF Josue Mena    
DNF Brayan Gonzalez (C.D. Paraiso)    
DNF Ismael Obando (Buenos Aires)    
DNF Daniel Cedeño (C.D. Cartago)    
Junior women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Milagro Mena (C.D. Cartago) 1:23:14  
2 Ana Gabriela Arias (C.D. San Jose) 0:01:06  
3 Cristina Suarez (C.D. San Jose) 0:10:22  
4 Fiorella Rojas (C.D. Cartago) 0:10:44  
DNF Susan Quiros (C.D. Belen)