Ramirez takes stage two, Sonntag stays in lead

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Costa Rica's Federico Ramirez Mendez soloed to victory by nearly five minutes on day two of La Ruta de los Conquistadores. The runner-up for stage one, Luis Mejia Sanchez, was off the front with Ramirez, but the Colombian flatted after checkpoint #3 and dropped out of contention for the stage.

Cannondale teammates Alex Grant and Ben Sonntag finished together in second and third place respectively, having spent much of the stage riding together. Sonntag kept Ramirez in check, and the German remains in the overall lead while Grant moved up to third in the GC.

In the women's race, Colombia's Angela Parra Sierra won for the second straight day and extended her overall lead. The USA's Louise Kobin and Rebecca Rusch repeated their second and third place finishes from the opening stage, but managed to finish closer to Parra on the 77km second stage.

Kobin kept Parra in sight on the difficult opening climb out of San Jose, but Parra steadily pulled away throughout the remainder of the race for her second consecutive victory.

Steep climbs grind down racers

Straight from the start of day, racers began climbing and it was only a few blocks in before they faced what may be some of the steepest terrain in the world.

"My computer said 30 percent," said Spaniard Ismael Ventura of a two-kilometer section that was just part of the enormous first climb.  Ventura would ride solidly to finish seventh today.

Stage winner Federico Ramirez and Luis Meija lost no time in taking advantage of the steep grade. The petite, wiry climbers took the front and gradually dropped the rest of their competitors. The pair would remain together off the front for most of the day.

Mejia appeared to have the most in his legs and Ramirez spent much of the day sitting on. "Mejia was so strong, it was difficult to follow him," said Ramirez.

However, a flat tire about two-thirds of the way through the race brought an end to Mejia's time at the front. He lost significant time and places waiting for a passing racer to hand him a CO2 cartridge, and as a result, he finished eighth on the day.

Behind Ramirez, race leader Ben Sonntag rode with his teammate Alex Grant. The two worked together to minimize the time Sonntag would lose to Ramirez during the stage as well as bump Grant up into third in the GC.

The main chase group, after Sonntag and Grant, included Manual Prado, Eddy Perez, Milton Ramos, Ismael Ventura Sanchez, Sam Schultz and Alexander Sanchez Calderon though steep climb after steep climb would shatter the group, leaving riders to trickle in mostly on their own.

"I felt good today, but they went on the attack right away and Federico is no slouch. I expected those attacks. Alex and I worked great together to keep the damage low," said yellow jersey wearer Sonntag. "I would say this was a victory for a team and not a loss.

"The first climb was really, really steep, and I think I'm carrying a lot more pounds up the hills than those guys. For me it was smart to just go my pace that early in the race and keep it steady. If I would have tried to stay with them and totally blew, I would have lost more time than I did in the end."

While many riders were on hardtails, Sonntag and Grant have been racing full suspension Cannondale Scalpels each day. Despite the tremendous climbing, Sonntag said it was an advantage to reduce the wear and tear on their bodies and to limit the risk of mechanicals.

"These are the most stupidly steep climbs I've ever done in my life," said Sonntag. At times, the racers rode up a concrete section of road marked with cross hatches to give the necessary traction. "But I knew that from last year. People had told me before I came the first time, but I think you have to see it and ride it before you believe it."

Sonntag and Grant crossed the line together, less than five minutes after Ramirez. Neither is counting the Costa Rican, who is now third in the GC, out for another La Ruta win, but they chose to ride the final downhill conservatively so as not to make a serious mistake that might cost them a bunch of time.

"Lico is coming, tomorrow, too," said Grant. "It's not over for him, he could still win pretty easily."

"It was a difficult stage," said Ramirez. "They were strong behind us. Mejia got a flat after the third aid station, and I left him. I suffered quite a bit today because the pace was fast. At the end of the day, I'm tired, but I'll be ready for tomorrow. I know the stage quite well." Ramirez will be extra motivated on day 3 racing through his hometown.

"Federico is a heavy favorite for this race," said race leader Sonntag. "If he won it so many times before, it's no question that he's the favorite, but I'm happy to keep the jersey one more day."

Portugal's Luis Leao Pinto rode to fourth place. The lawyer was pleased with his ride. "I had stomach problems yesterday, which held me up, but today, I threw it all out there to try to move up in the rankings.

"I do not like riding by myself in a race, but that's what was called for today," said Leao.

Milton Ramos, who is from Honduras but lives in Spain finished fifth.

Sam Schultz got lost on course today, but managed to find his way back and finished ninth in the stage. "I asked these girls and they pointed the opposite way - I went up, had to walk up a crazy climb and got to an old guy at his house. I asked if this is where the race goes, and he said something about 'number one', and I knew it was bad because that meant no one else had gone through. I knew I wasn't number one. He said there was a good view, but I wasn't looking for a good view."

Women's race tighter on day 2

On paper, day 2 looked like a repeat of day 1, with Angela Parra coming in solo ahead of a lone Louise Kobin and Rebecca Rusch. However, Kobin kept Parra in sight up the first monster climb and finished just 3:31 later, looking strong. Rusch was a further 10 minutes back.

"It was very hard with a lot of climbing," said Parra. "They changed the course a little, but I didn't have to walk a lot - only once maybe for 100m." Other racers commented her superhuman, gravity-defying powers to ascend steep climb after steep climb while staying on her bike.

"I felt good, but there was a lot of pain after yesterday," she said, noting another frightening finish, this time with no moto escort into the city.

Kobin said she was having fun climbing despite the steepness. She was spotted en route high fiving the school children who were out cheering here on. "They're so cute, and it's nice that they're out supporting the race," she said, smiling after the finish.

"I couldn't believe the climbs were so steep when I saw them," she said - even though she's won the race four times previously.

Rusch felt good but suffered for a period during the race. "I had a down period in the middle. I was confused by the course profile which had changed with the route, but not on the info we had. I thought I was at aid station 3, but I was at 2. I didn't know how many more big hills I had, so I lost some motivation and had to pull back a little."

Looking ahead to stage 3, which is famous for passing volcanoes, Parra said, "I hope to ride to the top tomorrow and take care on the downhill - I know it's a little dangerous."

But she'll have to watch out for Kobin, who tends to get stronger each day as she goes. "Usually, that's my favorite stage, and I like that kind of easy, sustained climbing," said Kobin of what's coming tomorrow.

Race notes

La Ruta founder and promoter Roman Urbina had an unfortunate accident during stage 2 while riding a moto. Urbina crashed and was taken to the hospital with a compound fracture of his arm.  He underwent surgery in which doctors installed a plate. It's not the first time he crashed during the race. He previously broke a femur in a crash while riding the moto during the race several years ago.  This time, he said after his surgery that he was doing ok and also promised he'd be back on a moto in the race by Saturday.

Milton Ramos broke his rear derailleur during the stage, but he still finished fifth for the day.

Stage Results

General Classification