Decisive stages of the Vuelta a Colombia
The 2010 Vuelta a Colombia began with a 20km team time-trial in La Ceja, Colombia on Sunday, August 1 and will end with a 34km individual time-trial end in Medellín on August 15. The 60th edition of August’s biggest cycling race has broken from tradition this year by intentionally including more opportunities for sprints. The first three stages were relatively flat, but the climbs began to grow in stage four and on Thursday the competitors faced the first category-one climb of the mountainous tour.
Stage five was won by Fabio Duarte after a duel with the overall leader Oscar Sevilla. Stage-winner Oscar Sevilla has an impressive European resume, with podiums finishes in the Vuelta a España and the Dauphiné Libéré. He was the best-young-rider in the 2001 Tour de France and supported Jan Ullrich in 2005.
Both pre-tour favourites, Duarte stands in 24th overall 4:10 behind Sevilla, but has a fighting chance in the nine remaining stages. Duarte became a hero of Colombian cycling when he won the Under-23 World Championships in Italy in 2008. He won the Spanish Circuito Montañés and is riding in a team which includes Giro d'Italia stage winner Luis Felipe Laverde and 2007 Vuelta a Colombia best-young-rider Oscar Sánchez.
Dalivier Ospina stands in second place, eight seconds behind the leader, and Sevilla’s teammate Henao stands in third, 11 seconds behind. 2008 winner Giovanni Baez stands in 14th, 1:53 behind the leader, and defending champion Jose Rujano stands in 25th, 4:51 behind.
Jose Rujano, of Venezuela, is one of only three non-Colombian rider to have won the Vuelta a Colombia. In 2009, he was joined on the podium by two Colombians. The defending champion was the king-of-the-mountain in the 2005 Giro d’Italia and is riding aggressively in the Colombian Tour since his team was not invited to the Giro this year. The local pride is fierce enough that Colombian contenders will be watching Rujano closely and can be expect to damper his chances to reach the top.
Decisive Stages
The decisive stages of the Vuelta a Colombia will take place on Monday and Tuesday, the last two stage before the first and only rest day on August 11. Monday’s stage nine departs form the capital city of Bogotá for the 230km trek to Libano. At 2800m above sea level, the category-three climb 25km into the stage will serve as a launching-pad for the general classification contenders. The route, including four categorized climbs, leads the category-one Alto La Virgin 10km from the finish line. It will be a day for teamwork.
Tuesday’s 203km stage 10 includes another four categorized climbs and is expected to be the most difficult day of the tour. La Linea in the queen mountain of the Vuelta a Colombia, the equivalent of the Alpe d’Huez in the Alps or the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. The attack will take the riders to an altitude of 3200m, and the very best contenders will use this opportunity to gain some serious time over those who can’t handle it.
After the much needed rest-day, the race returns on Thursday with the relatively flat stages 11 and 12, followed by a final climbing battle in stage 13 on Saturday. The 206km stage will be the last chance for the GC riders to grab some time before the individual time-trial of the tour’s final stage. The hors-category climb of the Alto De Las Palmes will be an impressively closer to the mountains of the Vuelta a Colombia, regarded as one of the most difficult (and most dangerous) cycling races in the world, with climbs hundreds of metres higher than those of the European Grand Tour.
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