Business as usual for Federico Ramírez (BCR-Pizza Hut) and Susan Haywood (Volkswagen-Trek) on the second stage of Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores, with both winning on the day, building their overall leads and establishing themselves as favourites to win.

The 75.2km second day was a new stage for La Ruta – the tradition second stage is the third stage this year. Costa Rican riders filled the top three positions in the male division, with Ramírez’s team-mate Juan Solís and Paolo Montoya (Macosta-Lee Cougan) coming in second and third. Canadian Max Plaxton was fourth.

“Today’s stage was really hard. More like Trans Alp or Trans Rockies style because of the technical demands. I already knew 80% of the course, but the last part of it was new for me and it certainly was the toughest climb. I had to hike for about 30 minutes and only managed to get on the bike again a few meters before I crossed the finish,” Ramírez said.

In the overall standings, Ramírez is now 12 minutes ahead of Montoya. Thomas Dietsch, sixth in stage two, occupies third spot but at nearly 28 minutes down on the leader, a home win looks on the cards.

No change in the standings in the women’s race, with Sue Haywood now 25 minutes ahead of Louise Kobin (Sho-Air).

And the Brits? A 55th place in stage two puts Hamish Bingley (Ben Hayward Cycles) up to 58th in Open. In A Masters, Vik Chaudhuri and Charlie Eustace (Ellsworth/Freeborn) both climb one place to 39th and 41st respectively. Meanwhile Matthew Kemp (Ride Beyond) has slipped one to 62nd. We’re not sure what’s happened to Sam Dowling (Fanylion Racing) but he’s not on the results for stage two or in the general classification. Mark Cadle is holding steady in 38th place in B Masters and Paul Collin (who we somehow failed to spot in the results yesterday) is running in 67th. Andrew Burton slips two places in Vets to 6th position.

The end of stage two marks La Ruta’s halfway point. Stage three is the same as 2007’s stage two, covering 67km, scaling the Irazú Volcano and finishing with a sketchy downhill from the Turrialba Volcano.