Tour Colombia: are the World Tour cyclists invincible?

Last Tuesday the great figure of the Tour Colombia 2024 was Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), who won the stage and was the leader. This Wednesday, on the day between Paipa and Santa Rosa de Viterbo, 169 km, the star was Harold Tejada (Astana), who won the fraction and dressed in yellow. Both are riders for World Tour teams, who have dominated this competition at will.

And it is normal for them to do so; Due to their category, name and capabilities, they have made a big difference that is difficult to match and surpass, well, at least the statistics say so.

There have been two days of the test in 2024, there are 20 in history and in none of them has a rider from a ProTeam team, a Continental team or one of the teams that have been invited won. And in the count of the titles, well less. In 2018 Egan Bernal won, a year later Miguel Ángel López won and in 2020 the champion was Sergio Higuita.

Are World Tour cyclists unbeatable?

EL TIEMPO consulted several sports directors, who insist that the World Tour can be beaten.

“You have to run in the style of the national cycling past. A break, by far, that takes time and high-class runners leave. Alliances could also be, but here in the country it is difficult because each team has its interests,” said Álex Cano, Orgullo Paisa coach.

This Wednesday was not taken advantage of. In the last part of the stage a group of 17 runners escaped, There were several from the local lot such as Rodrigo Contreras (NU), Robinson Chalapud (Banco Guayaquil), and Óscar Sevilla himself (Team Medellín), but Tejada defeated them.

“We build teams to win. I don't know if with an alliance or not, but the clear thing is that teams like ours come to win. Just because history says otherwise does not mean that the World Tour always wins and that this time it is like that,” said Spanish coach David Plaza, of the Petrolike team.

Luis Cely won double gold, Sub-23 and elite, in the Cycling Nationals with Brandon Rojas and Alejandro Osorio, respectively. With this last runner the coach played from a distance, in a breakaway and the difference was enough for him to defeat Higuita, silver, and Bernal, bronze, a strategy that could work.

“You can beat them. The key is for one of the local talents to break away and make a difference. The issue is that at this time of the year, it is not that one is clearly leaving,” said Cely, coach of GW Erco Shimano.

José Julián Velásquez, coach of Team Medellín, does not share the idea of ​​winning with alliances. “I like to win with my team, without anyone's help. I consider that the World Tour has its level, but they are human and they lose,” she stated.

What's coming at the end of the Tour Colombia

The race is not over, but what happened this Wednesday indicates that it is difficult to change history. Tejada is a climber. He has a Mark Cavendish who puts on the overalls and an Alexey Lutsenko, who will be a faithful guardian of the leader.

Tejada already has Bernal, Nairo Quintana and Richard Carapaz 34 seconds behind, but the key thing is that he is a mature man, who at 26 years old achieved his first victory in UCI races.

If you look at the general classification thinking about Saturday's stage with Alto del Vino ahead, Bernal and company are not ruled out.

As escorts, Tejada has dangerous men like Contreras, 11 seconds behind; like Édgar Pinzón and Yeison Reyes, who seem to be the leaders of the local lot who want to break that spell and that hegemony that the World Tour has imposed. It will not be easy.

Lisandro Rengifo
Sports Editor
Special envoy of EL TIEMPO, Santa Rosa de Viterbo
X: @lisandroabel
*Invited by Fedeciclismo

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