January 24, 2014 (Menetue, Chile) – The third stage of TransAndes Challenge took place under poor weather conditions, forcing organizers to modify the route. Despite the difficult conditions, Canada’s Matthew Hadley and Benoit Simard won the men’s team event while Javier Püschel from Chile continued his winning ways on the 21-kilometere ITT course.

Püschel was fastest with a time of 42:30 ahead of Orlando Alves from Brasil and Joan Llordella form Spain. Hadley and Simard had the fourth fastest time while fellow Canuck Kevin Massicotte was 7th.

In women’s category, Sonya Looney (USA) won with Canada’s Christie Simon in 5th while in the Mixed Team category, Mary McConneloug and Michael Broderick (USA) were the winners.

Today’s stage was performed on a route consisting of two segments of 4 kilometers each, bordering the Cau Cai River and reaching Neltume Lake. Competitors set off in reverse order, and the suspense lasted until the final rider was finished and the fastest time was determined.

This stage was suspended before due the weather forcing the organization to postpone the competition to not expose competitors to accidents.

Stage 3 video click here.

Results (brief)

Men’s Team
1. Matthew Hadley / Benoit Simard (Can) 45:26
2. Antonio Ortiz / Pau Zamora (Esp) 46:26
3. Robert Schmitt / Joe Kirch (Lux) 47:02

7. Benoit Dumas / Martin Simard (Can) 53:52

Mixed Team
1. Mary McConneloug and Michael Broderick (USA) 50:07

Solo Men
1. Javier Puschel (Chi) 42:30
2. Orlando Alves (Bra) 42:47
3. Joan Llordella (Esp) 43:54
4. Kevin Massicotte (Can) 45:51

Solo Women
1. Sonya Looney (USA) 52:15
2. Rebecca Rusch (USA) 55:46
3. Florencia Espineira (Chi) 59:56

5. Christie Simon (Can) 1:07:38

Full results here.