The three Maltese teams competing in the Andorra Epic today tackled Stage 3, the penultimate stage of the four-day mountain bike race.
The 52km stage was built around a sustained descent from the Roca de Pimes Refuge, taking riders through bike park trails and natural singletrack.
Team Gebel u Blat’s Andrew Caruana and Brandon Sultana finished the stage in 21st place in the Open Men’s Category.
Caruana described it as an all-out effort from the start, with the main climbing concentrated in the first half of the race.
Both riders felt strong and managed to keep a fast pace to the finish.
“We are looking forward to tomorrow’s stage, as finishing the race will earn Brandon the Epic Legend medal, which is a very prestigious recognition in the mountain bike world,” said Caruana.
Maltese Riders’ Jeffrey Borg and Antoine Sultana climbed a few places in the Masters’ Men Category to finish the stage in 30th.
On a fast day of racing, the pair managed their energy carefully in the opening kilometres before pushing the pace on the first climb, where both felt strong.
After falling back slightly in the final kilometre of yesterday’s stage, due to bike damage concerns, the pair were able to continue as normal. Their strategy remained unchanged – keep working steadily, then strong finish over the last kilometres.
“We are looking forward to completing the race tomorrow and are very happy with the spirit among all the Maltese teams,” remarked Borg.
It was a challenging day for Team Gaudos’ Stephen Grima and Diana Muscat.
The pair started the stage well, but around the 5km mark another rider on a tarmac section caused Muscat to fall. She sustained an elbow injury that not only affected her on the descents but also led her to consider withdrawing; with Grima’s support and encouragement, she continued.
Grima also sustained damage to a wheel, which slowed the team’s progress.
The setbacks cost the pair a few places, but they made it to the finish line.
“Such incidents are part of racing. Thankfully we finished today’s stage, and we look at tomorrow’s final stage with optimism,” noted Grima.
Team Gaudos is supported by Extra Karte, Visit Malta, SG Woodworks Ltd, Raico, National Gypsum Limited Malta, Wurth Malta, Pitre Hardware, Lourdes Opticians, JV Pharma, A. Caruana Enterprises Ltd and Xlendi Supermarket.
Team Maltese Riders is supported by 3CMalta, Medical Care Malta, and Visit Malta.
Team Gebel u Blat is supported by Visit Malta and Wheel Wizard.
The race concludes on Sunday with a 45km route starting and finishing in La Massana.
The final stage brings four days of racing to a close with over 1,000 metres of continuous descent on the Commençal trail.
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