Leao Pinto claims final stage, Sonntag holds on to win overall

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German Ben Sonntag rode a solid final stage 4 victory at La Ruta de los Conquistadores on Saturday to finish fifth and secure his first-ever overall mountain bike stage race win. After steadily improving each day, Luis Leao Pinto of Portugal took his first stage victory ahead of his breakaway companion Milton Ramos. Multi-time past winner and local favorite Federico Ramirez finished third in the stage and in the GC. with Sonntag's Cannondale teammate Alex Grant successfully defending his second overall.

Among the women, Angela Parra of Colombia made it a perfect race by securing her fourth and final stage victory as well as the overall title. In contrast to the other stages, Parra didn't ride this one solo, but instead spent most of the stage with past winner Louise Kobin, who was second just two seconds back. Rebecca Rusch took third. The general classification remained unchanged, with Parra ahead of Kobin and Rusch.

The final day started under soaking rains, and riders headed out for a mostly road stage that would take them to the Carribean Sea. Stage 4 finished on a beautiful sandy beach under sunny skies and high humidity. Most riders headed directly for the ocean to clean up and chill out after four gruelling days.

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En route today, racers tackled the race's famous railroad track section, including many treacherous railroad bridges. Gaps between the railroad ties give racers a clear view down to the raging waters below. Locals climbed out onto the bridges, parking themselves alongside the tracks, to cheer passing racers, whose full concentration was on where and when to place their feet as they walked across.

Cannondale goes one-two

Yellow jersey Ben Sonntag successfully defended his race lead on the final day. "I think that the only foreigners to have won this race are Leonardo Paez, Thomas Frischknecht and now me," said the jubilant winner.

"I won La Ruta and that is absolutely crazy - I haven't realized yet what this victory means to me," said the 30-year-old German, who lives in Durango, Colorado.

Sonntag said that the final stage wasn't as hard as he was expecting and he felt good enough to be able to help his Cannondale teammate Alex Grant hang on for second. "I had one tough day yesterday, but in the end what I had was enough."

"The stage wasn't physically as hard today, but mentally it was super tough. There were attacks and we had to fend the others guys off. Federico kept trying to follow them."

The race started fast after rolling out of Turriabla. Manny Prado tried a few attacks as did Luis Mejia, the disqualified rider who was still racing two stages later. At one point, Sam Schultz joined him off the front, but the two were later caught on a long, rough downhill road section.

Leonard Jason Tullous, Alexander Sanchez Calderon, Sonntag, Grant, Eddy Perez, Santos Corea Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Fallas Rodriguez, Federico Ramirez and Thomas Turner were all part of the main lead group, which was whittled down throughout the rest of the race as riders took turns coming off on the punchy climbs.

The first half of the race was like a road race and team tactics came in handy. One rider without a teammate was amateur racer Leao Pinto, a lawyer from Portugal, who proved strong enough to get off the front with Milton Ramos on the final railroad tracks section. Leao Pinto took the stage ahead of yesterday's stage winner Ramos.

"I knew I had to be on Federico's or Milton's wheel to make it here today," said Leao Pinto. "Everything worked out. We were the first ones to go onto the tracks (from an adjacent road), and we tried to gain time, which we did."

Ramos said he could only follow Leao Pinto and that the two were not working together.

The pair would not be seen again by anyone else in the race and finished over two minutes ahead of the chasers, which was were the GC battle was being fought.

"It was a very hard day, and I didn't feel so good," said Ramirez. "Uphill, I tried many times to attack the leader, but he was too strong. Riders started attacking in the final, flat 15km on the tracks near the coast, and we split."

"This one looks like it's easy because of so much flat, but it's the hardest for me," said Grant. "My biggest weakness is power in the flats. This is the bumpiest possible flat you can ride. It kills me to have to put out that much power. Last year, I got dropped and lost 2.5 minutes to Ben in the last 10 minutes. This year, the same thing was happening. I made it to the back of Federico, and Ben sat at the front so they wouldn't attack. He paid me back for yesterday when I helped him out."

"It was like a bunch of sprints to each section of tracks. It was like a cross race for two hours after all the rest of the racing we'd done," said Grant.

"When we hit the tracks today, it was all together. We hit a long road with huge puddles. Pinto Ramos and Mejia all jumped on the tracks when we stayed in the puddles. I just followed Federico and Ben. I didn't worry about the leaders. If Federico got off the tracks, I did. If he got on, I did. I think he was a little frustrated he couldn't get away."

Parra dominates women's race

Although the placings of the top three women in the fourth stage were the same as the other stages, this last one was slightly different in that Angela Parra and Louise Kobin rode much of the race together and finished just two seconds apart on the stage.

Going into the day, the GC seemed set, barring any misfortunes, and both Parra and Kobin knew that.

"I wanted to finish today so I took care of my bike and had a good experience, arriving with Louise. She's a good rider and has a lot of courage," said the 28-year-old winner Parra.

Kobin was smiles as usual after the finish line. "I'm not as tired as I have been in the past because we rode together for most of the day and I don't think either of us was killing ourselves."

Reflecting on her seventh La Ruta, she said, "It's just another notch in the belt I guess." Of all the finishers polled about doing the race again, Kobin seemed the most willing to say it was likely. "I'm sure there will be another, but I'll decide in a few weeks."

Rebecca Rusch didn't ride with any other women, but she did hook up with Chris Carmichael and a bunch of other Americans. "Today was super fun. It was Gringo Day. We had a little riding party and it was nice to not be alone for one of the days. A group really helped along on the road sections. It was good to be part of a well-oiled machine with experienced roadies."

Race notes

- Rider #315, Juan Carlos Marin  Valenciano, was disqualified prior to the start of stage 4 for accepting outside assistance during stage 3. While the news was again announced on the start line, this time, there were no protests and the rider agreed with the ruling.

- Past winner Ramirez commented on the controversy that followed the disqualification of riders who accepted outside support - a rule now being enforced by organizers when evidence was available to prove the cheating. "I've raced all over the planet, and I think the rules should be followed." He also commented on the elevated level of racing. "This year was harder. In previous years, there were about three people fighting for the win, and this year, there were about 10 contenders. I do think it's possible for me to win it again."

- Alex Grant was second overall for the second time. "That's two second places in a row," he said. "I have to win sometime."

- Lance Armstrong's coach Chris Carmichael participated in La Ruta to celebrate his 50th birthday a few weeks ago. He finished 70th overall in the GC.

- Sam Schultz might have won an award for most flats. Racing his first La Ruta, he suffered five total in four stages.

Stage 4 Results

Final general classification