A local 12 year winning streak at La Ruta de los Conquistadores was finally snapped last weekend when Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) became the first foreign rider to win the three-day event. The Marathon World Champion bounced back from a disastrous second stage, when three flats on the final descent caused him to lose 15 minutes to Costa Rican Marvin Campos (IBP), and drop to second in the standings - more then seven minutes back.
The final stage, at 126 kilometres, was the longest, but also has the least climbing - 1785 metres. The riders started the day with nearly 7400 metres of climbing in their legs from the previous two stages. Frischknecht worked with Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW) and defending champion Paolo Montoya (Santa Ana) isolate Campos from his team and then ride far enough away from him to win.
