The three Maltese teams competing in the Andorra Epic are just one stage away from completing the prestigious four-day mountain bike race after successfully tackling the penultimate stage on Saturday.
Stage 3 covered 52 kilometres and centred around a sustained descent from the Roca de Pimes Refuge, taking riders through a combination of bike park trails and natural singletrack in another demanding test of endurance and technical ability.
In the Open Men’s category, Team Gebel u Blat, comprising Andrew Caruana and Brandon Sultana, finished 21st after producing a strong performance. The pair adopted an aggressive approach from the start, with the majority of the climbing concentrated in the opening half of the race. Feeling strong throughout, they maintained a fast pace to the finish.
Caruana said the team is now looking forward to Sunday’s final stage, where completing the race will earn Sultana the prestigious Epic Legend medal, an accolade awarded to riders who successfully complete multiple Epic events.
In the Masters Men’s category, Team Maltese Riders, featuring Jeffrey Borg and Antoine Sultana, continued their steady progress by climbing several positions to finish the stage in 30th place. On one of the fastest stages of the event, the duo carefully managed their effort during the opening kilometres before increasing the pace on the first major climb, where both riders felt strong.
After taking a cautious approach at the end of Friday’s stage due to concerns over bike damage, Borg and Sultana were able to race without setbacks and stuck to their strategy of building into the race before finishing strongly.
“We’re looking forward to completing the race tomorrow and are very happy with the spirit among all the Maltese teams,” Borg said.
It proved to be a far more challenging day for Team Gaudos, made up of Stephen Grima and Diana Muscat. The pair began the stage positively before misfortune struck around the five-kilometre mark when another rider caused Muscat to crash on a tarmac section.
Despite sustaining an elbow injury that affected her confidence on the technical descents and briefly made her consider withdrawing, Muscat continued thanks to the encouragement of her teammate. Grima also suffered damage to one of his wheels, further hampering the team’s progress and costing them valuable positions.
Reflecting on the day’s events, Grima remained optimistic.
“Such incidents are part of racing. Thankfully we finished today’s stage, and we look at tomorrow’s final stage with optimism.”
The Andorra Epic concludes on Sunday with a 45-kilometre route starting and finishing in La Massana. The final stage features more than 1,000 metres of continuous descent along the renowned Commencal Trail, bringing four demanding days of racing to a spectacular conclusion.
Sports Editor
Veteran Journalist
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