Ángel Luis Pupo, from Holguín, second in the last edition, and Olga Echenique, from Matanzas, won this Sunday the III Escambray Mountain Bike Challenger 2024, held in Trinidad, Cuba’s National Monument city.
Pupo turned 29 years old this Sunday and gave himself the longed-for triumph, in spite of arriving in fourth place at the finish line, located in the historic center of this city of Trinidad and Tobago. The unfortunate thing was that his bicycle broke again during the embarrassing 40-kilometer stretch from the base of the Topes de Collantes massif.
The new title holder clocked 1:17.26 hours, only ahead of the previous monarch, the local Brayan Mandín of the Freyche club, who stopped the clocks in 1:12:57. He was also ahead of Ecuador’s Jorge Brito (1:13:02), of the mixed international team, and the host Jorge Rojas (1:17:21), master A of Manigüeros A.
Almost next to Pupo in fifth place was José Alberto Deza, from the capital city, of the Aventura team (1:22:06). He was followed by Randol Izquierdo, of Manigüeros A (1:22:09), all of the elite category except Rojas.
Completing the Sunday top ten were Alexei Martínez, master B of Velo Station (1:22:20); Juan Manuel Cabrera, Freyche elite (1:26:06); Álvaro Cardoso, master A of Manigüeros A (1:26:26), and Havana elite Josué Manso, of Chirimoya (1:26:35).
The top ten of the overall individual classification, led by Pupo with a time of 7:48:06 hours in almost 180 kilometers inland, were Deza (7:58.34), Mandín (8:06.53), Brito (8:29:50), Izquierdo (8:36.29), Cabrera (8:50.14), Cardoso (8:51:25), Rojas (8:52.07), Martínez (8:59.36) and Ernesto Fidalgo (9:30.54).
The champions of the masters groups were Rojas (A/ 30-39 years), Martínez (B/ 40-49) and the capital’s José Ramón Reyes, from Aventuras (C/ 50-59).
The victory in the women’s event went to Olga Echenique, from Matanzas, who placed 22nd among the 44 competitors who finished the race, with a time of 10:21.55 hours.
Also awarded were the youngest, María Karla Cabrales, from the national mountain bike team, and Anderson Montoya from Espiritu, both 17 years old, as well as the most experienced, the former member of the Cuban national team Misley Ferro, 45 “primaveras”, and the Ecuadorian Pedro Cabrera, 62.
For the first time, the team category was added, dominated by the clubs Manigüeros A, Freyche and Destino Aventura A. They were followed by the international mixed, Berraco, Velo Station, Negativos, Aventura B, Chirimoya and Manigüeros B.
The general awards ceremony took place at the House of Music, in the historic center, prior to a visit to the House of the Young Creator for a meeting with singer Elaín Morales, who begins his artistic tour of the island this Sunday in Trinidad.
Source: Lisset Isabel Ricardo, jit