Portuguese rider Luis Leao Pinto maintained the lead on the seventh and penultimate day of 11th Hero MTB Himalaya 2015 while Andi Seewald (Germany) and Pau Zamora (Spain) finished second and third respectively.
Luis finished with timing of 13:18:13, while Andi was 9 minutes behind and Pau Zamora finishing 18 minutes later.
There was tough competition among the top three riders Luis Leao Pinto, Andi Seewald and Pau Zamora throughout the entire race for the past 7 days.
Luis accomplished yet another challenging stage called the 'Himalayan Raga' which started from Day 6 base camp at Gada Gushaini in Kullu district to Chindi in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
49 riders flagged off from the camp in the morning through Kholi, Gatu, Kelodhar, Karsog and finally to the camp at Chindi.
The predominant muddy track proved to be a difficult section for many riders because of the tough uphills and downhills.
One of the top five riders, Guido Thaler (Austria) had to quit the race because of some health issues. He joined the HASTPA team visiting schools along the race route.
Vanni Balboni (Italy) won the Masters category today followed very closely by Reimund Dietzen.
Vanni also bagged the overall 5th position in the race today with Reimund Dietzen in the 6th position.
Catherine Williamson has been the undefeated leader in the Women's category followed by Ilda Periera. Ajay Pandit Chhetri and Buddhi Bahadur Tamang are the champs in the Team of Two category.
The entire 98 Km stretch on the seventh day was competitive stretch with elevation gain of 2467 mts and elevation loss of 2818 mts.
The race would conclude at Ridge tomorrow.
