Litscher, Cink win second stage at Andalucía Bike Race

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Thomas Litscher and Ondrej Cink (Multivan Merida Biking Team 2) won their second stage at the Andalucia Bike Race, finishing 44 seconds in front of stage 4 runner-ups Jochen Kass and Markus Kaufmann (Team Centurion Vaude 1). Overall race leaders Robert Mennen and Alban Lakata (Topeak Ergon Racing Team) finished third on the day at 2:08.

A disastrous third stage had knocked Litscher and Cink out of contention for the overall title, having lost more than 13 minutes to Mennen and Lakata, but they rebounded to win the 69km stage from Bedmar to Mancha Real.

"Today's profile had some really long climbs in it, so I really did not expect to win," said Litscher. "But Ondrej and me were keeping the pace high and cooperated superbly."

With two stages remaining Mennen and Lakata hold a lead of 8:33 on Jochen Kass and Markus Kaufmann (Team Centurion Vaude 1) while Litscher and Cink brought back some time on the leaders to trail by 11:34 in third place overall.

Elite women

Milena Landtwing and Sally Bigham (Topeak Ergon Racing Team) remained perfect at the Andalucia Bike Race with their fourth straight stage win. Landtwing and Bigham now lead their nearest rivals Heidi Rosasen Sandsto and Borghild Lovset (Team United Bakeries / Orkla CK) by more than two hours on general classification. The team previously in second place, Margarita Fullana Riera and Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Massi-Bicisprint) who started the day 58 minutes behind on general classification, was forced to retire from the race today due to mechanical issues.

Other categories

The closest race by far at the Andalucia Bike Race is the Master 30+ where today's stage winners, Javier Cherro Molina and Vicente Pla Espi (Monblau Delikia), took over the general classification lead by just 23 seconds over previous leaders Pablo Egeda Maldonado and Tomas Misser Vilaseca (Tomas Belles-Cannondale 3). It's a two-team race for overall honours in the category as the third place team of Carlos Molina Canton and Gonzalo Orozco Bernal (Bicikultura) are 43:27 off the pace.

In the Master 40+ category Manuel Gonzalez Guirao and Francesc Sabiote Ruiz (Doctore.Bike 1) won their second straight stage and took over the general classification lead from Anthony White and Richard Rothwell (Mt Zoom M Steels Cannondale). White and Rothwell finished second on the stage, but conceded 4:42 to the Doctore.Bike 1 teammates. White and Rothwell now trail overall by 3:06.

The Mixed team of Annika Langvad and Thomas Bonne (Team Davinci-Specialized) won their fourth straight stage and lead Melanie Alexander and Matthew Page (Bikemagic) by 1:51:21 overall.