2024-02-15 09:57:26
© Agence France-Presse
The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz won the queen stage of the Tour Colombia this Saturday after climbing a mountain pass 2,854 meters above sea level northwest of Bogotá.
The EF Education-Easypost runner defeated the main Colombian and foreign climbers such as the Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko in Alto del Vino, a hellish climb with which he culminated the 138.3 km stage, which started from the municipality of Cota.
Although it was believed that the winner of the day was going to become the new leader, Colombian Rodrigo Contreras did not allow Carapaz to take the yellow jersey from him by finishing third, with enough time to remain first in the general classification.
In the climb to Alto del Vino, 30.5 km, the EF was a notable protagonist with repeated attacks from Carapaz’s teammates. The Colombians Esteban Chaves and Jefferson Cepeda served as bait for the pink jersey team to put pressure on the rivals.
With 5 km to go, Carapaz attacked and left Contreras and his compatriot Jonathan Caicedo, who came second, stranded.
The Olympic champion in Tokyo-2020 is once again a prophet in Colombia. Here he launched his career and won several competitions before rising to fame.
On Sunday the most important cycling competition in the country of the “beetles” will end in Bogotá on a more friendly, but also demanding route of 138.7 km, where Contreras will have to endure more threats.