The Panamanian Bredio Ruiz achieved this Saturday, with a spectacular final packaging, the gold medal in the long-distance event of the sub 23 category of the fifth version of the Central American Road Cycling Championship, which is held in Panama City until this Sunday.

“It was a difficult race (…). We finished the final sprint with cramps, but the objective was achieved,” Ruiz told Agencia EFE, who crossed the final line to hang the gold medal after covering 135 kilometers in 3: 20:44.

Ruiz, a native of the province of Herrera, was part of the second escape, together with the Costa Rican Josué Salas, the Salvadoran Brandon Rodríguez and the Panamanian Roberto Herrera. Ruiz maintained the pace of the four to close with his specialty: the “sprint” and seal the victory.

“I want to thank the Panama U23 team, it was a wonderful team, we controlled the lot and on the break, we did a great job,” added the Panamanian.

The silver medal in the category went to the Costa Rican Josue Salas, with a time of 3:20:44. Salas, who always remained in the second escape, five laps from the end of the race, tried to break away with 700 meters to go, but his legs did not give him the chance to achieve the heroic victory and win gold for his country.

“We came with the slogan of fighting, actually we had a pretty good group of teammates (…) and thank God we were able to close with the silver medal,” Salas told EFE Agency.

The Costa Rican cyclist highlighted that the race pace was strong and the combination of heat and wind “made everyone” end up “exhausted”, as he pointed out that “the circuit is too demanding”.

The podium was completed by Salvadoran Brandon Rodríguez, who stopped the timers in 3:20:47: “Bronze is good, I’m happy to give El Salvador a medal.”

At the end of the day, Panama is still on top with 3 gold medals, one silver and one bronze, followed by Costa Rica with 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze, Guatemala adds a silver medal and El Salvador has a bronze

The Central American Road Cycling Championship began last Friday and will close this Sunday with the elite division event in the Panamanian capital. The women will face a route of 82.5 kilometers, and the men will roll 150 kilometers.

Source: La Estrella de Panamá