Stage 3 of the 2025, The Coastal Challenge was epic. The strength and commitment from Erick to attack and push paid off, he not only caught back his 16-minute deficit but now leads by 9-minutes.
Pierre was defiant though and clearly exclaimed that if he wants to win, he will race and race with the intention of victory.
Going in to stage 4 we knew a battle was coming, the day, on paper, played into the hands of Erick with a great deal of vertical terrain and at times, lots of technicality, particularly the final descent.
The discussion in camp was generally that one of them, more than likely would blow up today and potentially lose the race.
At 0530 the runner’s were released straight into a climb through dense rainforest, the expectation was Erick would appear first, but no, it was Pierre.
A long wait and then Erick arrived, he had lost 6-minutes 30-seconds on the first climb. Was he paying for the previous days effort?
At cp 2, the gap had extended to 7-minutes 30-seconds and several kilometers before cp3, the gap was 8-minutes 15-seconds.
Pierre was having a stunning day and Erick was just trying to minimise his losses.
Cp3 came and several kilometers later, Pierre appeared on the challenging high ground with the Talamancas as a backdrop. The gap was now 10-minutes 15-seconds, Pierre was the leader on the road.
It was expected the Pierre would continue to open the gap or at least maintain the gap, but nom this 2025 TCC is turning into a classic.
On the final descent Pierre suffered in the heat and humidity, he was a shell of his former self and when he arrived at the line he was exhausted and collapsed. Medics immediately submerged him in the river to cool down.
Just minutes later, Erick arrived, battered and bruised, he had pulled back many minutes but in the process had taken a bad fall, he was taken to hospital and gladly we can report there are no broken bones.
So, Erick still leads the 2025 TCC, the gap has been reduced from just over 9-minutes to now, 6-minutes 20-seconds.
Epic!
Both are somewhat broken from stage 4 and with 2 stages to go, who knows what will happen. For now, they need to eat, rehydrate, rest, have a good sleep and let’s see what happens at the beginning of stage 5…!
The rest of the race, in comparison, ran smoothly, the women’s race followed the same process as the previous days with Katie once again taking another win.
The landscape, the views, the small villages, the people, they all come together to make stage 4 a brutal and beautiful day.
Roll on stage 5.
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IAN CORLESS 