Mantecon and Bigham win Club La Santa Four-Day Race

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Simon Stiebjahn and Sally Bigham won the final stage of the Club La Santa Four-Day MTB Race on Tuesday while Bigham and Sergio Mantecon, who was the runner-up on the final stage, captured the overall titles.

Having won the first three stages, Mantecon was the favorite for the final 80km stage, too, but he started with a puncture, and Tiago Ferreira and Simon Stiebjahn initially rode off the front and left him behind.

As the stage passed through the village of Soo, Ferreira and Stiebjahn led. They were followed by Carlos Coloma, Juan Pedro Trujillo, Jesus Del Nero, Pedro Romero and Christian Kreuchler. But soon, Mantecón caught up to the leaders.

Then Kreuchler attacked, and only three managed to stay with him: Mantecón, Ferreira and Stiebjahn.

Stiebjahn took a turn attacking on the uphill and as he could not see anyone behind, he kept going in the lead for many kilometers, completely on his own.

Later, Stiebjahn was caught by Kreuchler and Mantecón and the three stayed together for the finale. In the final sprint, Stiebjahn beat his rivals, with Mantecón in second and Kreuchler in third.

Ferreira was fourth and Coloma was fifth on the day.

Among the women, Bigham had nothing to fear. She spent most of the day alone as she decided not to try to follow the men and not to take any risks since she had a huge lead after the first three stages. She described her day as a long and hard journey, but promised to come back again for another edition of the race.

Full Results