Seewald and Stosek prevail and Wakefield and Lüthi end their winning streak

This stage, famous for it’s rain, has seen how the leaders make their gap bigger and how Greete Steinburg and Janina Wust prevail over the leaders, that until today they had monopolized the victory record.

From the dry and dusty trail from yesterday in Villafranca de Córdoba, to the rain in Córdoba. A low intensity one, but a continuous one, the rain drops made an already hard stage, one to remember.

A stage of 80km and almost 2000m, with a few key points. The first one, the famous Reventón. In this edition, uphill way. It was there where in the men’s category, the Hans Becking and José Dias pair from the BUFF Megamo MTB Team, chose the group to split it into six units. Leaders included.

After this, it was the moment to go up around the Conejera and get to the Cerro Muriano. The Colombian Páez and the Italian Mensi trying to connect, Stiebjhan and Frey had an opportunity. The Germans had a great comeback, that finished them third in the podium.

Another key point was the train railroads, a very technical spot that led to the last zone of the day, the downhill of Los Escalones. It was after that zone, where bad luck made a pact with Becking and Dias. A fall less than one km away from the finish line, because of the slippery floor the rain left, took all the options that Dias and Becking had away, when they saw themselves having real possibilities of victory. A final victory for the leaders, the World Champion Andreas Seewald and Martin Stosek. To this win we have to add the gap that they added to one of their main opponents, the powerful Wout Alleman and Fabian Rabensteiner duo. The Belgian suffered a hard fall and they ended up closing the TOP10 of the stage more than 2 minutes after the winners.

“We’ve tried to control the stage since the beginning and it worked. In El Reventón we tried it with another couple to open the gap and it worked. It’s been a great day. We have a great gap for tomorrow, so it’s not necessary to take a lot of risks”, said both riders after the stage.

In the women’s category, Amy Wakefield already warned after her fourth win. It was time to start managing. To the Lüthi and Wakefield couple, this stage was used to not lose time and to secure a little bit more the final win. Watching their rivals very close, they only conceded 10 seconds in the finish line against the Estonian Greete Steinburg and the Swiss Janina Wüst. The third place was for the Lithuans Katazona Sosna and Greta Karasiovaite that, after a troubled start, they finally were able to stay ahead.

“Winning always makes you happy. We were not expecting it, honestly. It’s been a great surprise. The rain wasn’t such a big deal. We’ve been very consistent, with a fast pace and helping each other”, said Steinburg and Wust after getting their first victory.

With just one stage remaining, the Oakley Finisher Stage, anything can happen. Tomorrow, 43 km and 1000m to add the finishing touch to the twelfth. A short stage, but an intense one.

STAGE RESULTS - UCI MARATHON SERIES MEN
Andreas Seewald - Martin Stosek CANYON NORTHWAVE MTB TEAM    03:07:19
Hans Becking - José Dias BUFF MEGAMO MTB TEAM             03:07:41
Martin Frey - Simon Stiebjahn SINGER RACING TEAM            03:08:54

STAGE RESULTS - UCI MARATHON SERIES WOMEN
Greete Steinburg - Janina Wüst    MTB PRO Merchandising Racing       03:55:36
Amy Wakefield - Ariane Lüthi     Symbtech / Pump for Peace         03:55:46
Katazina Sosna - Greta Karasiovaite TORPADO FACTORY TEAM