Teamwork Characterizes the Vuelta a Colombia
The 60th edition of the Vuelta a Colombia began on August 1st. The biggest cycling race in the world to take place in August, the 14 stages of this year’s South American tour span from the 20km opening stage to the 229km Stage 9, closing with a 34km individual time trial on August 15th. The riders will race 10 consecutive stages spanning over 1500km before their first and only rest day on August 11th.
A pre-tour favourite, the Spaniard Oscar Sevilla, and his team Indeportes Antioquia have achieved an unprecedented domination of the race so far. After the first two stages, Sevilla is the overall leader and Indeportes is first in the team classification, holding every single one of the first nine spots in general classification.
"The advantage for us is that we're a team that all has the same level, only Oscar Sevilla is a bit better," said Santiago Botero, Indeportes manager and former time-trial specialist. "For this stage it is very important to train together, this is the key to winning."
The race opened with a 20km team time trial over wet roads. Indeportes finished 29 seconds ahead of Colombia Es Pasion and GW Shimano in third. Sevilla’s teammate, Sergio Luis Henao, was the first rider over the finish line in his hometown of Rio Negro, where he was received with a hero’s welcome.
"I'm happy because I'm the winner and that I have all the support I have here in Antioquia," said Henao.
The 164km Stage 2 saw the peloton descending 1900m from Rio Negro to Puerto Boyaca, in a stage that the tour organizers promised would be offering a bunch sprint – a rare event in the mountainous Vuelta a Colombia. The promised sprint was won by Jaime Castañeda, with Sevilla finishing the stage in second and Marlon Perez for GW-Shimano's finishing in third. Sevilla’s second place finish combined with his team victory in the first stage shot him into the first place overall just ahead of his own teammates Henao and Jannier Acevedo.
"I'm very happy and content to have this result," Sevilla said. "Castañeda is very crazy and he cut into my line. I thought I was going to go down."
Jose Rujano, the defending champion of the Vuelta a Colombia, punctured a tire within the last 3km of the stage and finished well behind the peloton. Camilo Gomez, for GW-Shimano, leads in the points classification after winning both intermediate sprints of the day, and Oscar Solis will enter the third day as the king-of-the-mountain for his performance on the Alto Monteloro climb.
The 191km Stage 3 crosses the lowlands of Boyaca, and if the sprinters can survive the heat they will be enjoying the three intermediate sprints on a stage which includes no categorized climbs.
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