After remaining strong throughout the three days of the grueling Costa Rican mountain bike competition La Ruta de los Conquistadores, Colombia’s Leonardo Páez Sunday won first place in this 300-kilometer race beginning on the Pacific coast and ending in Playa Bonita, in the Caribbean province of Limón, according to a statement on the race’s official Web site.

Although Costa Rican Andrey Amador won the third stage of the race – a 120-kilometer stretch from the Caribbean-slope town of Turrialba to Playa Bonita — Páez captured the first place title.

Asked if the Ruta de los Conquistadores was the toughest race he’s ever competed in, Páez, who just won the Pan-American Mountain Bike title in Brazil, agreed with his opponents, “yes.”

U.S. competitive biker Jeremiah Bishop held a steady second place in the race until a hard fall near Turrialba Saturday left him with a nose and jaw fracture and unable to compete.

With Bishop out of the race, Amador and his Costa Rican teammates Federico “Lico ” Ramírez and Paolo Montoyo tried unsuccessfully to defeat Páez.

Although victory eluded Rodríguez, he told the daily La Nación that “to ride together with him (Páez) was an honor.”

Páez finished the race, known as the toughest in the world, in 14 hours, one minute, 52 seconds. Andrey Armador came in second place 24 minutes 41 seconds later, followed by Ramírez, fellow Costa Rican Déiber Esquivel and Italian Marzio Deho, according to the daily La Nación.

-Tico Times