Vuelta a Guatemala, 2.6

Guatemala, Oct. 21 - Nov. 1, 1999

Stage 10 - October 30

Baldwin wins helper's duel in Sololá:

By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent

American Chris Baldwin won the tenth stage of the Vuelta a Guatemala in solitude over 122 kilometers from San Pedro Sacatepéquez to Sololá. Guatemalan Fernando Escobar is still in the white leader's jersey.

The stage had two climbs, the first coming quite early and the second one too easy to really be of any significance to the race. Ardila took the first KOM of the day alone with Escobar in second. The descent saw a reforming of the peloton and then Gramajo took the first sprint in San Mateo.

The American Seven Up team then tried an attack to put the white jersey back on Anton Villatoro, while the tour leader was in the rear of the peloton. Chris Baldwin took Mexican Armando Perez and Colombian Hector Mesa with him. In the chase the peloton was divided into three fractions. Mesa took the second, easier, mountain prize alone but was soon joined by Baldwin, Perez and another Mexican, Vigueras who managed to bridge up. The quartet worked well together and after a while the stars in the peloton gave the chase up and concentrated on keeping the gap on a decent level.

Nevertheless, the quartet split in the end leaving Baldwin and Perez in a duel won by the guy from north of the Rio Grande. Vigueras cam in third while Mesa managed to hold the peloton off by eleven seconds.

Stage 10 - San Marcos - Sololà, 122 kms

1. Chris Baldwin (USA) Seven Up                3:25.54
2. Armando Pérez (Mex) Canel's-Turbo              0.01
3. Armando Vigueras (Mex) Canel's-Turbo           0.24
4. Héctor Meza (Col) Lotería de Medellín          0.38
5. Fermín Méndez (Gua) Bancomet                   0.49
6. Fernando Escobar (Gua) Bancomet                0.50
7. Guillermo Torres (Gua) Foremost                0.51
8. Luis Castañeda (Col) Lotería de Medellín 
9. Richard Nuell (Aut) Austria
10. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) Canel's-Turbo

GC after stage 10:
1. Fernando Escobar (Gua) Bancomet            35.14.42
2. Luis Castañeda (Col) Lotería de Medellín       0.03
3. Miguel Arroyo (Mex) Canel's-Turbo              0.55
4. Fermín Méndez (Gua) Bancomet                   1.00
5. Amílcar Gramajo (Gua) Bancomet                 1.14
6. Anton Villatoro(Gua) Seven Up                  2.16
7. Guillermo Torres (Gua) Foremost                3.06
8. Oscar Alvarez (Col) Lotería de Medellín        6.03
9. Luis R. Muj (Gua) Foremost                     6.14
10. Armando Pérez (Mex) Canel's-Turbo             6.18

Mountains:
1. Mauricio Ardila (Col) Lotería de Medellín       68 pts
2. Fernando Escobar (Gua) Bancomet                 56
3. Luis Castañeda (Col) Lotería de Medellí n       36

Sprints:
1. Chris Fisher (USA) Seven Up                     52 pts
2. Oscar Pineda(Gua) Seven Up                      25
3. Rudy Ispache(Gua) Bancomet                      14

Points:
1. Fernando Escobar (Gua) Bancomet                 38 pts
2. Carlos Hernández (Mex) Canel's-Turbo            29
3. Chris Fisher (USA) Seven Up                     19