Lico Takes Four Minutes Off of the Leader

It was a “dream victory”, expressed Milton Ramos earlier today as he won the third stage of La Ruta.

After 85 kilometers of climbing up to 9000ft and a downhill which took them to 1800ft, Ramos shared his best repertoire to crown the stage with a time of 3h:38:03.

“An unforgetable day for me and my team after one stage I consider to be the queen of stages, not only for it’s long climb and steep descent which you must run with much care as for you could crash the bike or fall.”

The key to the stage, according to Ramos, was in being able to stay with the leaders until the end.

Leao Pinto made it to the finish line in second place 14 minutes from the winner.

“The stage was really hard for me as for the two first days I haven’t generated a steady pace. Today’s strategy was to discount as much time as possible.

Lico continues in the finish line

Even though he was unable to win the race, he had to multiply tasks after a flat tyre, three kilometers away.

“It was a tough stage, I felt quite strong at the end of the day eventhough I had a flat after checkpoint 1.”

Lico came in the finish line at 3h:46m:15s, four minutes away from the leaders. He is in third place in the GC.

Ben Sonntag continues in first place with a total time of 13h:47m:56s. “I did not have the best of luck, mostly at the ascent where I suffered much cold, yet I feel happy eventhough I know my leader jersey is in risk.”

Colombian Mejía was disquilified for having assistance on a non-designated area.

Last stage is up for Saturday with 101 kilometers and a 7am start which will lead them to Playa Bonita, Limón.