Richard Carapaz was the big winner of the queen stage of the Tour Colombia. The Ecuadorian cyclist managed to make a difference in the last five kilometers of the Alto del Vino climb, the difficult final climb of the 5th stage.
The queen stage
The fifth stage of the Tour Colombia was an endurance race with 138 kilometers ending in the climb of Alto del Vino. A climb that extended for more than 30 kilometers at an average gradient of 5.7%.
The competition started in the city of Cota and, after a brief warm-up phase, the cyclists ventured up the climb. At first, a group made up of six cyclists, including Vinicius Rangel from Movistar and Rait Ärm from Estonia, managed to gain a lead of more than five minutes.
At the foot of the final climb, they still maintained a four-minute lead. In the peloton, the Nu Colombia team, with the leader of the general classification, Rodrigo Contreras, maintained control of the race.
Nairo Quintana stays behind
In an attempt to close the gap, the Astana Qazaqstan team took the lead. Thanks to the efforts of Alexey Lutsenko, the peloton was greatly reduced. Among those who couldn’t keep up were big names like Andrea Piccolo and Nairo Quintana.
Esteban Chaves was the first to decide to attack, more than ten kilometers from the finish line. But he was unable to maintain the lead for long. Just at the moment he was reached, he was replaced by his teammate Richard Carapaz. The Ecuadorian managed to distance himself and maintain his distance. Behind him were Contreras and a small group of pursuers.
Carapaz moving forward
Carapaz attacked again four kilometers from the finish line. Contreras, this time, was unable to keep pace and found himself chased by Jonathan Caicedo. Gradually, Carapaz began to gain an advantage over his pursuers.
Entering the last kilometer, it was already clear that Carapaz would take his second victory of the season.
Contreras maintains the lead
Rodrigo Contreras proved to be a difficult opponent, coming third behind Caicedo and managing to keep the leader’s jersey. However, the fight for overall victory is not over yet. Sunday’s final stage could still bring changes in the classification, especially due to the climb of Alto de Patios, with 2.9 km at 7.2%, whose top is twelve kilometers from the finish line in Bogotá.
Watch the arrival
Results of the 5th stage of the Tour Colombia
