Franklin Archibold made history in the XLIII International Tour of Chiriquí, by becoming the first Panamanian to win the international cycling tour twice, which was held for a week.
Archibold, a native of the province of Chiriquí and member of the Panama es Cultura y Valores team, won the competition by two seconds, after having started the last stage in second position in the individual general classification, one second behind Costa Rican Gabriel Rojas (7C Economy Lacoinex).
It is the second time that Archibold wins this cycling event, one of the most important held in Panama, since he also took the honors in the 2019 edition.
After seven stages, Archibold totaled a time of 18 hours, 07 minutes and 55 seconds to be the best. Gabriel Rojas finished two seconds behind and third overall was Alex Strah (Panama is Culture and Values) five seconds behind.
“Thank God and the team for this victory, which is good for us, it gives us confidence for this 2024 season. These two champion jerseys of this Vuelta represent a lot for us as cyclists. I thank Vicente Carretero and Emer Samudio for the support of always,” said Archibold in an interview with the press department of the Panamanian Cycling Federation (Fepaci).
“I woke up (on Sunday) very motivated and whether it happened or not, I was going to fight until the end,” said the Chirican, referring to the fact that before the seventh and final stage, he was one second ahead. of the then leader, the Tico Gabriel Rojas.
Archibold added that in his mind he kept fighting to regain first place and therefore win the title “I think we have fought until the last and we have won the leadership, I am very happy to be the first Panamanian to win around twice,” he said.
“Whether it happened or not, I was going to fight until the end, I think we fought until the last and we took the lead,” he reiterated. “El Águila” recalled that everything went as planned, “I just spoke with Yelko Gómez, who is a very experienced runner, he told me that we had to fight until the last, the bonuses and try to always have control of the race “and that he did, Archibold said.
The seventh and last stage was a closed circuit in the vicinity of Parque Cervantes, in David, in which 90 kilometers were traveled, divided into 25 laps and which was won by the Costa Rican Emanuel Castro (Colono Bikestation Kolbi) with a time of 2 hours 03 minutes 47 seconds. Roberto Herrera (Panama is Culture and Values) followed three seconds behind and Víctor Jaén (Guardianes SPI).
Roberto González (Rali Giant) from Santeo dominated the points classification with 48 and Fernando Ureña (Descarados Cycling Club) dominated the Master category. The mountain was dominated by the Costa Rican Gabriel Rojas, with 30 units and the U-23 by the Colombian Bryan Camilo Quintero (Esparza Pergolas Isostar). As for teams, Panama is Culture and Values dominated with 53 hours 52 minutes and 52 seconds, escorted by 7C Economy Lacoinex, 20 seconds behind.
Source: FEPACI