21 May 2021
Andalucía Bike Race by Garmin is defining its places of honor. Today the race held its fifth and penultimate stage with the start and finish in the city of Córdoba. The cyclists confronted 76 kilometers with 2,200 meters of climbing, which included the day’s highlight, the El Reventón ascent.
Team Bulls did it again. The German team achieved its third victory in the Andalucía Bike Race by Garmin, thus consolidating its dominance with one stage to go. This time the winners were Martin Frey and Simon Stiebjahn, who scored their first victory in the Andalusian race.
The Germans, along with Urs Huber and Simon Schneller as leaders, controlled this Super Stage with purpose and stomped out a double victory. Buff® Scott MTB riders, Hans Becking and Jose Dias, arrived just a few seconds behind the winners in third place. With this result, Saturday will be decisive in determining the 2021 champions of the Andalucía Bike Race by Garmin.
Simon Stiejhan: “We started the stage off by towing a big group, controlling the race from the lead position, and setting our own pace. The other teams began to lose steam while we stayed in the lead until the finish line.
The team's priority is to take the leader's jersey home, so if Urs and Simon have problems we'll be there to help them. We will also try to maintain third position in order to finish the race on the podium’s third step.”
In the women's category, the classification tightened even more with the victory by Janine Schneider and Hidegunn Hovdenak, who cut time out of the leaders. Torpado Sudtirol riders, Katazina Sosna and Stefanie Dohrn, will keep the green leader's jersey after finishing second today. Saturday's stage, the final in this competition, will define the champions in what’s become a very tight edition. Bettina Janas and Estelle Morel of Sportograf-Ornans, who rode a great stage once again today, came in third.
Hildegunn Hovdenak: "Katazina did a great job today, but Janine took the lead from the first kilometers. Our initial plan was to get away before the climbs. Today we worked hard and rode many kilometers, keeping the pace until we found options to advance and stay out in front."
Tomorrow in Córdoba the riders will face the final stage of the Andalucía Bike Race by Garmin. Saturday's stage will decide the race champions of the 2021 edition with 48.57 kilometers and 1,230 meters of climbing, including a pass through La Loma de los Escalones.
Standings STAGE 5 UCI Marathon Series Men
1 Martin Frey - Simon Stiebjahn TEAM BULLS || 03:00:39
2 Urs Huber - Simon Schneller TEAM BULLS || 03:00:42
3 Hans Becking - Jose Dias Buff Scott MTB Team || 03:00:48
Standings STAGE 5 UCI Marathon Series Women
1 Janine Schneider - Hidegunn Hovdenak tysk-norge || 03:44:05
2 Katazina Sosna - Stefanie Regina Torpado Sudtirol || 03:48:33
3 Bettina Janas - Estelle Morel Sportograf-Ornans || 03:53:21
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