In the city of Tunja, the cyclist from Cundinamarca, Daniel Felipe Martínez and the young Diana Peñuela were crowned national champions of Colombia in time trial, an event that brought together an impressive number of professional riders with an enviable international track record for any event.
Daniel Felipe Martínez, who this year is part of Bora Hansgrohe, won Thursday the gold medal in the individual time trial of the National Championships held in the department of Boyacá, in central Colombia.
Martinez covered the 41.8 kilometers between Paipa and Tunja, the departmental capital, in 54 minutes and 2 seconds, at an average of 46.4 kilometers per hour. The 27-year-old won for the fourth time in his professional career this specialty. The first time he did it was in 2019, he repeated in 2020 and then in 2022.
The silver medal went to Brandon Rivera, Egan Bernal’s teammate at Ineos Grenadiers, who gave up a minute and 38 seconds to Martínez, while the bronze went to Rodrigo Contreras, who defends the colors of the NU Colombia team, who came in 1.56 minutes behind the champion.
Daniel Felipe Martínez stopped the clock in 54 minutes and 2 seconds, and according to several reports this time is lower than that of the Spanish Miguel Induráin in the 1995 World Road Race, when he registered 55 minutes and 30 seconds.
Martínez also surpassed Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who was fourth and returned to the competition after almost a year of absence due to not having a team. Egan Bernal was sixth and Rigoberto Urán (Education EF Easypost) eighth. A total of 25 riders took the start.
In the women’s elite category, the best at the end of the 26.5 kilometers was Diana Peñuela (DNA Pro Cycling), with a time of 41 minutes and 32 seconds. The runner-up was Lorena Villamizar (Bonebreaker Project), while Ana Cristina Sanabria (Colombia Potencia de la Vida) came third.
The National Championships will continue this Friday with the online race for the elite and under-23 women, who will have to complete a 108.7-kilometer circuit in Tunja.
The elite men will return to action on Sunday with the long-distance race of 212.5 km through the streets of the capital of Boyacá.
Source: Federación Colombiana de Ciclismo y Agencias de Prensa