2016 Andes Pacifico Epic Final Race Report

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Day two started up by Ferellones. Stage 1 was fast, dry and dusty with the odd spring crossing to keep you sharp. -Sven Martin

Jerome fixing a flat on day two. He has been plagued by crashes and this flat, but today has found the right mix of speed and caution taking day three's win. -Sven Martin

Pauline Dieffenthaler on a loose, dry, steep chute on Day 2. Sitting in third overall. -Sven Martin

Nate Hills sets up the turn with a spontaneous wallride. -Sven Martin

Davis English from Canada gives her like a Skidoo. -Sven Martin

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#oops rock.

Mark Scott making sure not to blow this blind right-hander. -Sven Martin

Nate - Parched as bro. -Sven Martin

Iago Garay. #doyouevenboostbro -Sven Martin

Jerome Clementz couldn't resist a bit of liaison fun today. -Sven Martin

Francois Bailly-Maitre is such a solid, yet consistent rider. He leads the overall after three days of racing. Hanging it out on Stage 3, Day 3. -Sven Martin

Francisco Uribe from Chile threads the needle on the last stage today. -Sven Martin

Nico Prudencio lost a lot of time on Stage 3 today, front flatting on a brutal stage. -Sven Martin

Antonia Wurth is sitting in 5th overall in the women's after three days racing. -Sven Martin

Anka Martin was charging but her week was cut short with a broken hand after crashing trying to pass one of the men mid-stage. Tons of dust makes passing hazardous. -Sven Martin

Truly the worst part of covering racing is seeing friends get injured and then have to take a picture to tell the story. Heal up Anka! Photo by Gary Perkin

Martin Cepi is a brave man - scandi technique on a rocky-strewn chicane. Cepi is the organizer of the Argentinian round of the EWS. Good to see the sport is in such good hands. -Sven Martin

FBM, clean and bright. -Sven Martin

Not quite what we were expecting in the high Andes but there has been more precipitation than previous years up on La Parva and a few springs dot the terrain. Photo by Gary Perkin

A long liaison up to the beginning of Stage 1, Day 3. -Sven Martin

Jerome smashing turns hard early morning Day 3. -Sven Martin

Chilean National Champ, Florencia Espiñeira, is charging hard and sitting in 3rd overall after three days. -Sven Martin

T-mo alone at the front. -Sven Martin

Jon Cancellier on Brokeback ridge. -Sven Martin

Felipe Vasquez was leading masters until today when it all went wrong. A few crashes and a twisted knee has put him back into 3rd. -Sven Martin

Tracy with El Plomo looming in the background. -Sven Martin

The first female Dakar Moto racer, Josefina "Kuki" Gardulsky, sitting in 4th overall. She stripped the organizers moto and repaired it single-handedly after it got flooded in a river crossing. Legend. -Sven Martin

On-track doctors follow the riders through all the stages. -Sven Martin

Time out before a stage in a rare 3G zone. Riders relax and upload to the 'gram #AndesPacific -Sven Martin

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Sven likes to get wet.

Sven multi-tasks by cooling off, washing his chamois and getting a shot of local hero Nico Prudencio. Photo by Gary Perkin

Gary had just seen some things in this river that he couldn't unsee, no matter how hard he tried. -Sven Martin

Working in the mountains brings its own set of hurdles to overcome. Driving a few kilometers up the valley gets signal, and the vehicle lights add ambiance when firing out photos. Photo by Gary Perkin

A little slice of anti-grip in action under the wheels of Jerome Clementz. Photo by Gary Perkin

Antonio Ovalle of Chile getting loose on Thursday's 3rd stage. One of the loosest I've ever ridden! Photo by Gary Perkin

Race director Matias Del Solar heads down Friday's 1st stage to clear the course and check that no-one is horsing around on track. Photo by Gary Perkin

Sunscreen is a must up here all day at altitude. The wind rushing through your hair as you pin the stages and you forget the twat gap between pad and shorts. Photo by Gary Perkin

Mark Scott mobbing. Photo by Gary Perkin

Yuri Bogner from Brazil finishing among the Malbec on Day 4, Stage 1. Contact-less timing worked flawlessly. -Sven Martin

Who needs a drone anyway? When you have a beat up dusty camera and banged up scratched lens you can always play a game of catch with the timer on 2 second delay. Media squids and course markers #handsfreeselfie ©️™️®️ -Sven Martin

After the tape was broken by one of the earlier riders a large group followed the wrong trail for a few minutes. Back on track they cruised and jumped their way to the bottom. The stage ended up being cancelled to keep the playing fields level. Iago Garay with the enduro-whipper-scrub. -Sven Martin

Antonia Wurth from Chile finished 4th showing a lot potential for the years to come. She will be at a few EWS rounds later this year, too. -Sven Martin

Jerome banks yet another stage and day win on Saturday. Jerome won the final three days but could not catch up to Francois and Mark after his day one that was filled with crashes and flats. -Sven Martin

Florence Espiñeira smashing turns harder than most of the guys. Keep a watch on this young Chilean racer. There are not a lot of people on this planet who have taken stage and day wins from Tracy Moseley. She is one of few. Day 4 winner. -Sven Martin

Macky Franklin bending himself around a tight, loose, blind turn while keeping it fully gassed. -Sven Martin

Good morning Matanzas during the fifth and final day of the 2016 Andes-Pacifico. Photo by Gary Perkin

The finish line... The only thing between the tents and the ocean was the bar. Not bad Montenbaik. Not bad at all. -Sven Martin

This is why you should always face those mAxle levers backward folks. -Sven Martin

Leaving the dry heat of the Andes, we started to feel the humidity in the air as we neared the coast. Francois Bailly-Maitre cools off before dropping in. -Sven Martin

FBM riding blind but never appearing so. On-sight trail processing by the top riders was something to witness. We would usually post at some pretty sketchy awkward spots but they handled it (mostly) as if it were their local trail. -Sven Martin

Mark Scott on the cancelled Stage 2, Day 4. -Sven Martin

Nico Prudencio was leading the race after day one but lost four precious minutes on Day 3 with a flat. He kept fighting to the end, clawing his way back to 6th spot. -Sven Martin

Day four began in the Santa Cruz wine making area. A day with just two stages and the 4x4 shuttles replaced by two long and hot hike-a-bikes. Thankfully not quite as hot as last year's 47-degrees though. -Sven Martin

Tracy Moseley with the Santa Cruz Valley (and our campsite) in the background. Less Anti-Grip than up in the Andes but way plenty of treacherous dead end ruts to toss you over or burp tires. -Sven Martin

Grape picking crates were turned into mini pools for racers at the Santa Cruz Campsite. With the free keg just meters away, there were plenty of calls for refills. Tough life this racing business. Jon Cancellier and Scot Chapin hydrate. -Sven Martin

After the racing on day four, we cleaned up and returned to the Montes Winery for some tasting. The hills in the background were raced earlier in the day. -Sven Martin

Final day five dawned and the convoy headed to the coast. One shuttle drop-off on the highest hill and seven stages (yes seven) later, they were soaking in the Pacific or Piscola or both. -Sven Martin

Chef Matias Arteaga and his crew prepare the final meal for the racers. -Sven Martin

Until next year... smooth sailing. -Sven Martin

Forget planking or duck face - spider selfies are the new rage here on the Andes-Pacifico. Photo by Gary Perkin.

Antonia Wurth shows perfect race tuck form on the second stage of the final day of Andes-Pacifico. Photo by Gary Perkin

My good mate Jon Cancellier is this week's #PanshotFriday entry .. shot on a Friday, during a race run for bonus points. Photo by Gary Perkin

Overall winner Francois Bailly-Maitre reacts to seeing the overall results popup on the timing screen. Photo by Gary Perkin

Race to the water. Photo by Gary Perkin

It's Pisco time after the fifth and final day of the 2016 Andes-Pacifico. Photo by Gary Perkin

Men's overall podium (L to R) Mark Scott 2nd, Francois Bailly-Maitre 1st, Jerome Clementz 3rd. Photo by Gary Perkin

A hard charge through the arid, rugged trails of the Andes finishes at the edge of the Pacific ocean in Chile. Riders tackled a total of 5 days of racing with over two-hours of timed runs. Mechanicals, crashes and flats plagued the entire field but in the end, Francois Bailly-Maitre won the battle of speed and consistency with a 20-second victory over Mark Scott.

Sven Martin and Gary Perkin share the stories of slaying and praying during this romp through the altitude.

Pro Men's results

Pro Women's results

Official words from race organizer, Montenbaik

Francois Bally-Maitre is the winner of the third versión of Andes Pacifico 2016.

The most consistent pilot of the Andes Pacifico was François Bailly-Maitre that celebrate his first place in Matanzas after completed the 7 stages of the fifth day when the riders arrived to the Pacific Ocean.

In the podium the young Scottish Mark Scott accompanied him from Santa Cruz Bicycles who was everyday in the top three riders. On third place arrived the 2014 World Champion Jerome Clementz. The Frenchman said: “During the five days I went from less to more, I’m happy with the result and I really like the format of these races with a few days and lots of stages”.

The best Chilean was Milciades Jaque in fourth place, who said: “I learned a lot during these 5 hard days, I focus on one objective to finish the race and also I focus on keeping my fitnes during the race” “I end up very happy, this is a very good way to start the year and I’m sure I can improve in the future”.

Women
Tracy Moseley show why she has some many titles, she won Andes Pacifico by a good margin of 12 minutes to Pauline Dieffenthaler that got second place.
In third place arrived the Chilean credit Florencia Espiñeira, how had a really good race despite a flat tire the first day that made lose precious time.

Master
The master class was won by the Chilean legend Claus Plaut who took the lead in the final day over the US Master Champion Michael West. In third Place arrive the three-time Andes Pacifico participant from South Africa Rene Damseaux.

We close Andes Pacifico 2016 with an great feeling that we had a great race in amazing places that show the variety of single tracks and landscapes that Chile has to practice Mountain Bike.
From the high Andes passing to the famous Colchagua Valley full of vineyards and ending up in Matanzas a little town that is the capital of the windsurf and waves.

We want to thank all the riders and staff that were part of this race and especially to our sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles, Volkswagen, Bontrager, Evoc, Kross Brewery, KTM Motorcycles, ODI Grips, SRAM, Motorex, La Parva, Lo Barnechea, Antawaya, Hotel Surazo, Viña Aquitania

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