January 28, 2011 (Conaripe, Chile) – The Open Men’s Team composed of the Swiss Simon Zahnd and the Chilean Javier Püschel took the Stage 3 win in the TransAndes Challenge, while Canada’s Andreas Hestler (Can) grabbed the Solo Open Men’s stage victory, and the top Canuck squad of Marty Lazarsky (Can) and Neal Kindree (Can) continued their string of third-place finishes in the Open Men’s category.

“The Last three days have been amazing. The weather is a balmy 28 degrees and sunscreen is a must. Getting out of our race shoes and into our flip flops is awesome. Canada needs to know about Chile, what a great place to hide from winter, do some miles and get a tan,” raved Hestler.

Taking place within the Coñaripe and Menetúe Thermal Complexes, the highlights of the 57.3km Stage 3 were the incredible Transvolcanic Pass of Villarrica National Park, where the riders rode through an amazing Araucarias Pine Tree Forest. After the first 15km, Team Jamis’ Jason Sager (USA) and Benjamin Sonntag (Ger) took over the lead to gradually increase their advantage over all the other teams. But in the last part of the stage, a flat tire allowed the Team Trek-Zaboo-DaMatta of Püschel and Zahnd to snatch win, hitting the finish line in a time of 3:17:25, just 2:30 ahead of Sager and Sonntag.

The Mixed Team category win went to Mary McConneloug and Michael Broderick (USA) Seven Cycles-Kenda in a time of 3:27:00, while Eva Lechner (Ita) and Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) continued to dominate the Open Women’s team category.

Stage 4 will feature 83km of Andean roads, starting and finishing at Menetúe Thermal Complex.

Stage 3 Results

Solo Open Men
1. Andreas Hestler (Can) 3:28:16
2. Blake Harlan (USA) 3:33:03
3. José Raul Hernández Silva (Esp) 3:50:24

Solo Men 18-34
1. Taigh Banson (Aus) 3:21:01
2. Manuel Grescnell (Ita) 3:58:37
3. Samuel de la Sotta (Chi) 4:04:14

Solo Women 18-30
1. Denisse Van Sint Jan (Chi) 5:04:37

Solo Men 31-45
1. Juan García (Arg) 3:33:03
2. José Antonio Riquelme (Chi) 3:44:04
3. Graham Cocksedge (Can) 3:47:36
4. Javier Lopez (USA) 3:57:13
5. Pat Doyle (Can) 3:58:37
6. Marshall Craig (Can) 4:14:17
7. Cristian Raab (Chi) 4:41:06
8. Cristian Contreras Chile 4:41:06
9. Faustino Linares (Arg) 4:57:13
10. José Luis Astorquiza (Chi) 5:50:35
11. Rafael De Vito (Arg) 7:04:09
DNF Michael Lella (Ger)

Solo Men 46+
1. William Glore (USA) 4:03:04
2. Felipe Sargent (Chi) 4:45:44
3. Rick Metzger (Can) 5:49:42
4. Michael Schmid (Chi) 5:56:14
5. Rodrigo Javier Lopez (Chi) 6:24:55
6. Luis Hernán Bustos (Chi) 6:46:59
DNF Zdenko Rajevic (Chi)

Team Open Men
1. Javier Püschel (Sui) / Simon Zahnd (Sui) 3:17:25
2. Jason Sager (USA) / Ben Sonntag (Ger) 3:19:55
3. Marty Lazarsky (Can) / Neal Kindree (Can) 3:28:15
4. Martín Flaño (Chi) / Nicolás Prudencio (Chi) 3:33:03
5. Jacques Gagne (Can) / Simard Benoit (Can) 3:43:11
6. Francois Dumas (Can) / Nadeau Pierre-Yves (Can) 4:29:39
7. Kiebacher Armin (Ita) / Rabensteiner Fabien (Ita) 4:37:18

Team Open Mixed
1. Mary McConneloug (USA) / Michael Broderick (USA) 3:27:58
2. Elisa García (Chi) / Claus Plaut (Chi) 4:11:39

Team Open Women
1. Eva Lechner (Ita) / Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) 4:37:47
2. Anja De Decker (Bel) / Elke Roage (Bel) 5:01:45

Team 35+
1. Mathias Hüller (Ger) / Florian Reichert (Ger) 6:35:57

Team 60+ Mixed
1. Víctor Ortiz (Chi) / Pamela Aguilera (Chi) 5:07:53
2. Paula Tomaz (Chi) / Cristian García (Chi) 5:30:11

Team 60+ Men
1. Carlos Cardemil (Chi) / José María Eyzaguirre (Chi) 3:47:36
2. Giorgio Nattero (Chi) / Sergio Madrid (Chi) 4:04:14
3. Pablo Bascur (Chi) / Cristóbal García-Huidobro (Chi) 4:05:00
4. Patricio Diaz (Chi) / Santiago Diaz (Chi) 4:18:38
5. Telser Edmund (Ita) / Wendel Valentin (Ita) 4:37:47
6. Sergio Bunster (Chi) / Nicolás Maino (Chi) 4:41:53
7. Gert De Geeter (Bel) / Maarten Delforche (Bel) 5:02:19
8. Eduardo Vitelli (Bra) / Eduardo Shikasho (Bra) 5:24:38
9. David Frehner/ Enrique Pascual Cuesta ((Esp/ Esp) 5:28:51

Team 80+ Men
1. Gert Stappenbelt (Ned) / Gerrit Van den Broek (Ned) 3:48:15
2. Aníbal Baeza (Chi) / César Salgado (Chi) 4:47:00
3. José Valdés (Prc) / Benjamin Kauffman (Prc) 4:55:34
4. Pablo Cruz (Chi) / José Luis Ibaibarriaga (Chi) 4:59:38
5. Gerard Preuss (Ger) / Bernd Bauernschmidt (Ger) 6:09:57
6. Rafael Abelenda Lomas (Esp) / Antoni Gasso Navarro (Esp) 6:23:49
7. Fernando Lopez (Can) / Paul Parker (Can) 6:38:53
8. Edward Kaplún (USA) / Scott Biddinger (USA) 6:48:22

Team 100+ Men
1. Jim Gibson (USA) / Shawn Gillis (USA) 4:46:04
2. Al Mickelson (Can) / Jim Forbes (Can) 7:07:38

Team 100+ Mixed
1. John Ledington (USA) / Deb Ledington (USA) 5:30:40

GC after 3 Stages

Solo Men
1. José Raul Hernández Silva (Esp) 10:46:02
2. Blake Harlan (USA) 49:22:00
3. Andreas Hestler (Can) 1:01:16

Solo Men 18-34
1. Taigh Banson (Aus) 12:15:38
2. Manuel Grescnell (Ita) 23:16
3. Samuel de la Sotta (Chi) 1:02:02

Solo Women 18-30
1. Denisse Van Sint Jan (Chi) 15:36:18

Solo Men 31-45
1. Juan García (Arg) 11:05:18
2. José Antonio Riquelme (Can) 41:24:00
3. Pat Doyle (Can) 47:13:00
4. Javier Lopez (USA) 1:05:06
5. Graham Cocksedge (Can) 2:05:38
6. Marshall Craig (Can) 2:06:00
7. Cristian Raab (Chi) 3:38:36
8. Faustino Linares (Arg) 4:50:13
9. José Luis Astorquiza (Chi) 5:43:51
10. Rafael De Vito (Arg) 10:47:40
11. Michael Lella (Ger)
12. Cristian Contreras Chile

Solo Men 46+
1. William Glore (USA) 12:44:00
2. Felipe Sargent (Chi) 2:24:15
3. Rick Metzger (Can) 4:19:14
4. Michael Schmid (Chi) 6:07:09
5. Luis Hernán Bustos (Chi) 8:54:32
6. Rodrigo Javier Lopez (Chi)
7. Zdenko Rajevic (Chi)

Team Open Men
1. Jason Sager (USA) / Ben Sonntag (Ger) 10:01:50
2. Javier Püschel (Sui) / Simon Zahnd (Sui) 10:17:39
3. Marty Lazarsky (Can) / Neal Kindree (Can) 10:55:32
4. Martín Flaño (Chi) / Nicolás Prudencio (Chi) 11:21:55
5. Jacques Gagne (Can) / Simard Benoit (Can) 11:36:01
6. Francois Dumas (Can) / Nadeau Pierre-Yves (Can) 12:42:51
7. Kiebacher Armin (Ita) / Rabensteiner Fabien (Ita)) 13:56:16

Team Open Mixed
1. Mary McConneloug (USA) / Michael Broderick (USA) 10:36:58
2. Elisa García (Chi) / Claus Plaut (Chi) 12:58:35

Team Open Women
1. Eva Lechner (Ita) / Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) 14:06:56
2. Anja De Decker (Bel) / Elke Roage (Bel) 16:04:54

Team 35+
1. Mathias Hüller (Ger) / Florian Reichert (Ger) 19:18:53

Team 60+ Mixed
1. Víctor Ortiz (Chi) / Pamela Aguilera (Chi) 16:45:17
2. Paula Tomaz (Chi) / Cristian García (Chi) 17:01:08

Team 60+ Men
1. Giorgio Nattero (Chi) / Sergio Madrid (Chi) 12:19:51
2. Carlos Cardemil (Chi) / José María Eyzaguirre (Chi) 12:25:10
3. Pablo Bascur (Chi) / Cristóbal García-Huidobro (Chi) 12:47:53
4. Gert De Geeter (Bel) / Maarten Delforche (Bel) 13:45:30
5. Patricio Diaz (Chi) / Santiago Diaz (Chi) 14:21:14
6. Sergio Bunster (Chi) / Nicolás Maino (Chi) 14:21:48
7. Telser Edmund (Ita) / Wendel Valentin (Ita) 14:51:10
8. David Frehner (Esp) / Enrique Pascual Cuesta (Esp) 16:40:35
9. Eduardo Vitelli (Bra) / Eduardo Shikasho (Bra) 16:52:25

Team 80+ Men
1. Aníbal Baeza (Chi) / César Salgado (Chi) 14:33:47
2. Pablo Cruz (Chi) / José Luis Ibaibarriaga (Chi) 15:44:09
3. José Valdés (Prc) / Benjamin Kauffman (Prc) 16:10:02
4. Gerard Preuss (Ger) / Bernd Bauernschmidt (Ger) 18:39:40
5. Rafael Abelenda Lomas (Esp) / Antoni Gasso Navarro (Esp) 19:33:55
6. Edward Kaplún (USA) / Scott Biddinger (USA) 20:13:06
7. Fernando Lopez (Can) / Paul Parker (Can) 20:23:05
8. Gert Stappenbelt (Ned) / Gerrit Van den Broek (Ned)

Team 100+ Men
1. Jim Gibson (USA) / Shawn Gillis (USA) 14:08:37
2. Al Mickelson (Can) / Jim Forbes (Can) 20:31:00

Team 100+ Mixed
1. John Ledington (USA) / Deb Ledington (USA) 17:17:53