December 20/09 23:51 pm - La Vuelta Ciclista Internacional a Costa Rica - Stage 5

Posted by Editoress on 12/20/09
 

Costa Rican Fabricio Quirós of Team BCR-Pizza Hut-KHS won today’s 140 kilometre fifth stage and took over the yellow jersey at the 45th Vuelta Ciclista Internacional a Costa Rica. The stage joined the communities of Liberia, Guanacaste, and Esparza, in the province of Puntarenas.

Quirós took back the leadership after having worn the gold sweater during the first two days of the race. The 19 year old rider from Cartago took the win with a time of 3:28:09, while two Colombians, Julián Rodas and William Valencia of Team Greatwall-Indeportes Antioquia, finished second and third, at 3 and 13 seconds.

Former leader Gregory Brenes finished with the same time as third placed Valencia, which left him in the second place for the general classification, four seconds behind his teammate Quirós.

The course was made up of two parts. First, the 70 man peloton completed a five lap circuit in Liberia that saw a high pace, causing several incidents, including crashes and mechanic issues.

The bad luck touched the Canadian Team of Tour d'Quebec-GTH, whose sprinter Jean-Michel Lachance crashed on a curve and was dropped by the rest of the peloton. He was forced to complete the circuit on his own before going out for the point-to-point course to Esparza. Lachance and his team considered it too difficult to catch the group by himself and he decided to abandon La Vuelta.

And hard it would have been. The main group had to deal with several attacks by the Colombians and local competitors, speeding up the race on both the descents and the flat segments. The stage quickly reached the final kilometres with a bunch of favorites in the front. The winner Fabricio Quirós jumped out in front with only 500 metres to go. His team dominates the GC so far with Quirós, Gregory Brenes, Federico Ramírez and Alexander Sánchez filling the first four spots.

The sixth stage of the tour - the “leg-breaker” of La Vuelta because of its multiple climbs - will take place Monday with a 139.4 kilometre circuit that begins and finishes in Santa Ana. The stage visits some West Valley towns like Belén, Palmares, San Ramón, Grecia, Naranjo, Valverde Vega and Alajuela.

Press release