January 25, 2014 (Menetúe, Argentina) – Spain’s Joan Llordella won the fourth stage at the Transandes Challenge which included an 82km tour from Liquiñe to Menetúe. Javier Püschel from Chile and  Matthias Grick from Austria, finished second and third respectively. Canada’s Kevin Massicotte was 5th.

The race started with a 25km route until Coñaripe and from there riders had a long 20km climb to access the Villarrica National Park, where they enjoyed a spectacular araucaria forest. Then they faced a rapid descent to Palguín. The stage ended with a 5-km paved road section to the camp in the Catripulli sector with access to Termas de Menetúe.

Llordella was the winner with a time of 3 hours 6 minutes 8 seconds, just one second ahead of Püschel, who remains in first place overall. Austria’s Grick was third, followed by Orlando Alves of Brazil.

The Open Women’s winner was Rebecca Rusch followed Sonya Looney of the USA.  The Men’s Team Category was won by Pau Zamora and Antonio Ortiz of Spain, who narrowly beat the Canadian team of Matthew Hadley and Benoit Simard. In third was Luxembourg’s Joe Kirch and Robert Schmitt.

The Open Mixed Team race was won once again by the American duo of Mary McConneloug and Michael Broderick followed by Argentina’s Elisa Garcia and Claus Plaut.

The TransAndes Challenge ends this Saturday with a fusion of the original 5a and 6a stages, and will feature a long and steep climb where competitors will be able to appreciate as many as five different volcanos. The stage ends with a very fast 45-mile route to the finish located in the Eco Park Pucon, in the ninth region.

Results here.