Maltese mountain bikers taking on the Andorra Epic concluded the first day of racing on Stage 1 — a 49km route from Pal Arinsal to La Massana featuring 1,440m of climbing and 2,100m of descent. The opening stage served up technical high-mountain riding, incorporating sections of the Pal-Arinsal World Cup course and two long alpine descents.
Team Gaudos, pairing Stephen Grima with Diana Muscat — who is making her multi-stage mountain biking debut — finished the day strongly in 7th place out of 21 teams in the Mixed category.
Commenting after the first stage, Muscat remarked: “We rode really well today and I’m really happy. I’ve never seen trails like these — breathtaking scenery, and it turned out to be a highly technical day. I felt strong, and Stephen encouraged me throughout — he’s faster, but he rode at my pace, and we had fun finishing quickly. Today’s result bodes well for the stages ahead. Here in the Pyrenees, you just have to soak in the majesty of the place.”
Racing in the Masters category, team Maltese Riders – Jeffrey Borg and Antoine Sultana finished 31st out of 56 teams. The pair complemented each other’s strengths throughout the stage, with Sultana pacing Borg through the mountainous sections while Borg drew on his ability in the descents, which proved as technical as expected. “The climbs were demanding, but we paced ourselves well with the remaining stages in mind,” remarked Borg.
Team Gebel u Blat — Andrew Caruana and Brandon Sultana — placed 18th out of 51 teams in the Open Men’s category. “The race went well for us,” Caruana commented. “Steep climbs and very technical descents, full of loose rocks and debris. We’re quite happy with today’s performance. We kept in mind that we have three more days of racing in front of us, so it was very important to take care of ourselves and the bikes.”
Racing continues on Friday with Stage 2 — at 58km, starting and finishing in Canillo, the most demanding day of the race — reaching 2,350m at Llac de Pessons before concluding with the Beixalís descent.
