British cyclist Mark Cavendish, a rider who has the most victories on the list of active professional cyclists with 165 wins, is the first star confirmed for the fourth edition of the Tour Colombia 2.1, which will be held from February 6 to 11. 2024, between the departments of Boyacá and Cundinamarca.
Cavendish (May 21, 1985), who has 34 stage victories in the Tour de France, 17 in the Giro d’Italia and three in the Vuelta a España, in addition to the title of world road champion in 2011 and the medal silver in the omnium at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will head the roster of the Astana Qazaqstan Team.
This Kazakh team chose Colombia to hold a training camp before the start of the season and accepted the invitation of the Colombian Cycling Federation to participate in the most important race in America, which returns to the UCI international calendar in 2024.
In his first experience running in Colombia, Cavendish will be accompanied, representing Astana, by the Colombian cyclist Harold Tejada, who will participate for the second time in the race, in which he competed in 2019, an edition in which he finished in box 20 of the general.
The complete roster of the Astana Qazaqstan Team and the other national and foreign teams that will be competing in the more than 895 kilometers of route that the fourth edition of the Tour Colombia 2.1 will have, will be confirmed in the coming days.
The tour
It is worth remembering that the municipality of Paipa, in Boyacá, will be the opening venue of the Tour Colombia 2.1 2024, with the departure of the first stage on Tuesday, February 6, which will pass through Duitama, La Y, and will make five laps of the Valley. between Tibasosa, Sogamoso, Nobsa and La Y, and will end in Duitama, in a section of 155 kilometers.
The second stage will take place on Wednesday, February 7, and will also leave Paipa, pass through Tunja, Ventaquemada, return to Tunja and Paipa, cross through Duitama and end in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, for a total route of 169 kilometers.
In Tunja, capital of the department of Boyacá, the third day will be held, with a 12.5 kilometer circuit, starting and finishing on Avenida Universitaria next to the San Viator School, by the Santa Helena Condominium, to which cyclists must give nine laps, for a total of 112.5 kilometers.
The fourth stage will start from Paipa, pass through Tunja, Ventaquemada, Villapinzón, Chocontá, Gachancipá, Tocancipá, Chía, Cajicá and end in Zipaquirá, on a journey that will be 181.8 kilometers long.
The penultimate section will take place in Cundinamarca, starting in Cota, passing through Siberia, El Rosal, La Vega, Villeta and returning to finish the queen stage of 138.3 kilometers in Alto del Vino.
Finally, the Tour Colombia 2.1 will culminate with the sixth stage, which will be held over 138.7 kilometers, from Sopó, passing through Tocancipá, Gachancipá, Chocontá, return – Sesquilé, Guatavita, La Calera, Alto de Patios, entering Bogotá on Calle 85 with Carrera Séptima and you will arrive at the National Park.
Source: Federación Colombiana de Ciclismo